Murder at Malfoy Manor
by cleotheo
Summary: When Lucius Malfoy is found dead during a New Year's Eve party suspicion immediately falls on the three people he was heard arguing with over the course of the night. Is the killer his loving wife, Narcissa? His stubborn son, Draco? Or his son's feisty fiancé, Hermione Granger? Or was there someone else with murder in mind lurking in the shadows of the Manor?
1. The Body

**A/N - I hope people enjoy my latest story. This is the first time I've listed other main characters as well as Draco and Hermione but this story is just as much about Narcissa and Lucius. I have the entire story perfectly structured already and there will be ten chapters in total. I have already written the first five and this is the story I am currently spending most of my time on so hopefully it will be finished soon. Hopefully I'll be able to update every couple of days, especially if the story goes down well.**

* * *

**The Body.**

The large back garden of Malfoy Manor was lit up with thousands of enchanted firefly's as the annual New Year's Eve party headed towards its climax. In the wizarding world on New Year's Eve there was only one party that people wished to be invited to, the Malfoy's. People waited with baited breath as the invites went out in early December, only the best were invited to Malfoy Manor for New Year and it was an honour to receive one of the expensive silver and green invitations with the beautiful calligraphy of Narcissa Malfoy's personal invite.

Despite their part in the war all three Malfoy's had made an effort to make up for past mistakes. With a lot of hard work and a genuine change of attitude the Malfoy family had rebuilt their reputation and were now once again considered to be amongst the finest wizarding families in Britain.

Lucius Malfoy had surprised everyone after the war when he had publically admitted his status as a Death Eater. He surprised people even more when he announced that it was the worst decision of his life and was something he desperately wanted to put right. Privately Lucius struck a deal with the Auror's to keep his out of Azkaban and he spent months working with them to capture the remaining Death Eaters. While the exact details of his deal were kept private the Ministry made it public knowledge exactly how much information Lucius had given them. As a result of his help capturing the Death Eaters, and making the wizarding world a safer place, Lucius was forgiven by the majority of the public and even hailed as a hero in some parts. Lucius used his newfound status to earn respect for the Malfoy name, once again getting people to associate the name with a powerful wizarding family, only this time without the dark connotations.

Narcissa Malfoy was hailed as a hero when immediately after the war it came to light she had lied to Voldemort and saved Harry's life. Even though protecting her son had been the main motivation behind the lie, something Narcissa openly admitted, people still considered her brave for lying to Voldemort. As her husband started to regain favour in the wizarding world the press began focusing on Narcissa, before the war they hadn't given much consideration to Narcissa but the press soon discovered the public had an appetite for the remorseful family, especially the beautiful wife of Lucius Malfoy. For years before the war Narcissa had been heavily involved with several charities but with the new interest in her life it soon meant her charity work was public knowledge. Despite taking a while to get used to the intrusion in her life Narcissa had eventually used the press to get publicity for her charities. Nowadays if she wasn't in the press regarding her latest charity work, Narcissa was featured in the gossip columns as they discussed her latest party.

While Lucius and Narcissa had undoubtedly helped the Malfoy image the general consensus was that it was their son, Draco, who was the major reason the family was accepted back into the wizarding world. After the war Draco was fully prepared to accept any consequences that were coming to him in regard to his actions. As the youngest Death Eater on record his trial was the most anticipated in the aftermath of the war. Surprisingly Draco refused to testify in his own defence. Several people, including Harry Potter, testified that he had been put under severe pressure to join Voldemort and hadn't wanted to carry out his wishes. There were several tears and a lot of sympathy in court the day that Narcissa testified and revealed that Draco had received two choices from Voldemort, he could either take the Dark Mark or watch his mother be tortured and killed in front of him. Despite never once trying to weasel out of his actions Draco was unanimously found innocent of all charges. The information that was revealed combined with the dignified manner in which Draco had behaved throughout his trial resulted in massive public support for the young Malfoy.

After his trial Draco went to work at his father's ailing company. While Lucius took a back seat in the business after the war Draco worked all hours to make the business a success, he stopped dealing with any firms with connections to the dark arts and even expanded part of the business into the muggle world. Draco's business success combined with his good looks meant he was a regular in the wizarding press, whether it was praising him for a deal he had conducted at work or speculating about which witch he was currently dating. Nearly two years after the war the press surrounding Draco reached fever pitch when he was photographed on a date with Hermione Granger, the so called brightest witch of her age and one third of the golden trio who had defeated Voldemort. The press loved the idea of the Gryffindor golden girl and the Slytherin bad boy together and the couple regularly featured in the tabloids and magazines as their relationship progressed. News of their engagement three months ago had caused a frenzy and the wizarding world were now anxiously awaiting news of when to expect the long anticipated nuptials.

Like all parties held at Malfoy Manor the press were strictly excluded, not that it stopped them from camping outside the grounds in the hopes of sneaking a few pictures with long distance lenses or speaking to someone who had wandered a bit too far from the action. Narcissa was well aware of the press surrounding the party, knowing that the few sneaky pictures they could snap would prove helpful in making sure people remembered her family had changed she was quite content to leave them to it.

At quarter to twelve after checking that the magical firework display was all set to go Narcissa set about finding her husband. Lucius wasn't exactly the person she wanted to be speaking to at the minute but for appearances sake Narcissa prepared herself to publicly see in the New Year with her husband. After scanning the gardens, with no luck, Narcissa was heading towards the Manor when she was stopped by her long-time friend, Sylvia Parkinson.

"Cissa, the party's wonderful, as always." Sylvia said with smile. "Although I haven't seen your husband for a while."

"I'm just off to look for him." Narcissa smiled politely. "You know Lucius, he's probably snuck into the office to do some work."

"Typical man, my Harold is just the same." Sylvia said. Harold was Sylvia's husband. "I was actually heading to the bathroom before the fireworks, I can hurry him up if you want."

"That would be great, thank you." Narcissa said, grateful for her friends help.

As Sylvia headed into the Manor, Narcissa let her gaze wander across the garden. Everyone looked to be having a good time, the party was another huge success. As she spotted Draco and Hermione approaching her, Narcissa smiled at the sight of her son and his fiancé. Narcissa was a big fan of the feisty witch Draco was engaged to and she was looking forward to the day she officially became part of the family.

Draco and Hermione had just reached Narcissa when a bloodcurdling scream interrupted the festivities. While the noise didn't disturb all the guests, everyone who was closer to the Manor turned to see what was happening. A few seconds after the scream a sobbing Sylvia appeared in the doorway she had entered a few minutes ago.

"He's dead." Sylvia sobbed. "Lucius is dead."

* * *

**...**

* * *

New Year's Eve found Calvin Bainbridge, the head of the Auror Department, sitting wading through a stack of paperwork. Bainbridge would rather have been at home with his wife but unfortunately it was his turn to work the holiday shift. Bainbridge was a fair boss and he believed that if he expected his staff to take turns in working over the holidays that he should have to do the same.

A knock on the door disturbed his work, looking up Bainbridge found one of his newest Aurors, Aiden Scott entering the room.

"We've just received a call, we've got a case." Aiden told his boss. "Lucius Malfoy's been found dead in his study, it looks like murder."

Bainbridge snorted, he was surprised that someone hadn't killed the former Death Eater years ago. Despite the public opinion that Lucius Malfoy was repentant for his actions during the war Bainbridge was of a different opinion. Directly after the war Bainbridge was part of the team of Auror's that had dealt with Lucius and the information they received from the blond man, it was his opinion that Lucius hadn't really changed he was just doing whatever he could to avoid going to Azkaban.

"Have you arranged for the forensic team to accompany us?" Bainbridge asked as he rose from his desk.

"They're on their way." Aiden replied.

"Let's go then." Bainbridge said, leaving his office.

Outside in the department several on duty Auror's were waiting to head to Malfoy Manor. One of them explained that the floo network was set up so the men headed to the fireplace in the far corner of the department, preparing to floo to the murder scene.

Bainbridge let several of his team floo to the Manor before heading there himself, the remaining ones following close behind their boss. Arriving in a high ceilinged room with little furniture Bainbridge looked around, spotting two of his off duty Auror's greeting their work colleagues.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had both joined the Auror department directly after the war. While Bainbridge had accepted that both men had potential to be good Auror's he disliked that fact that neither man had actually achieved the right qualifications to even be accepted into the training programme. Bainbridge knew better than to voice his concerns as it was common knowledge that Potter and Weasley were favoured by the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shackelbolt. Bainbridge was also aware that Kingsley was lining Potter up to be his successor as head of department, not that he was planning on retiring for a long while yet.

"Potter, Weasley." Bainbridge said, walking up to the two men. "I take it you reported the incident."

"Yes, we've also contained things as best we can." Harry said.

"Where's the body?" Bainbridge asked, noticing the forensic team arriving in the room.

"In the study, just along the corridor." Ron said, heading to the doorway and pointing the forensic team in the right direction.

"We also gathered most of the guests in the ballroom." Harry said, hoping to impress his boss.

"Why only most?" Bainbridge questioned.

"The family are in the front room and Mrs Parkinson is in the library with her husband and daughter, she discovered the body." Ron said.

"Parkinson?" Bainbridge raised an eyebrow at Harry. "Any relation to your girlfriend?"

"Yes." Harry nodded. "It was Pansy's mother that discovered Lucius."

"We'll talk to her first, then you can leave." Bainbridge said. Turning to two of his Auror's he sent them to speak with the Parkinson's.

"We can stay and help." Ron offered, eager to be involved in such a large scale investigation.

"No, you can't." Bainbridge said firmly. "I appreciate everything you've done tonight but you both know you can't be part of the investigation when you are potential witnesses. Potter after we've finished with your girlfriend and her family you're free to leave. The same goes for you Weasley, I assume you're girlfriends here as well."

Ron nodded as Bainbridge turned to instruct a few more of his Auror's. "I want the names and addresses of every guest that was at the Manor tonight. Start with Weasley's girlfriend."

"Do you want us to question them all?" One of the Auror's asked.

"Briefly. All I want to know for now is when people last saw Lucius Malfoy alive and did they witness anything in regards to him over the course of the evening." Bainbridge dismissed several of his team to deal with the witnesses before turning to Aiden. "Come on we'll go and view the body."

After making sure that Harry and Ron understood they were to leave as soon as possible Bainbridge set off towards the study. Stepping into the expensively decorated room his gaze immediately fell to the prone body of Lucius Malfoy, sprawled across the floor.

"What do we have?" Bainbridge asked the chief forensic officer, Tess Dunlop.

"He was killed by a blow to the back of the head." Tess said, pointing out the dent in the back of Lucius' skull.

"Why didn't they just use magic?" Aiden asked. He had only been an Auror for little over a year and so far hadn't witnessed a crime where the perpetrator hadn't used magic.

"There's a number of reasons." Bainbridge explained. He liked Aiden so he was willing to explain things more for the young man. "Magic can be traced to an individual person these days so not using magic could be a way of trying to stay anonymous. Or it could have been a spur of the moment thing, whoever did this might not have intended to kill Lucius, it could just be an argument that got out of hand. Then there is some people who despite having magic are more disposed to reacting in a physical way."

"Like Lucius' future daughter-in-law." Aiden said, a story he had heard stirring in his mind.

"Hermione Granger?" Bainbridge questioned. He had only met the woman a few times but he would rather that she and not her friends had applied to be an Auror, she was exceptionally bright and had returned to school to get her qualifications, unlike her two friends.

"Yes, there's a story I've heard Ron tell about her." Aiden said. "It's no secret that her and her fiancé didn't like each other in school, well apparently there was an incident in either second or third year, I forget which."

"The point Aiden." Bainbridge sighed. He might like the man but sometimes it took him an eternity to make a point or get to the end of a story.

"The point is that after an argument Hermione apparently had her now fiancé at wand point. But instead of hexing him, as most people would do, she pulled away before turning back and hitting him. According to Ron she nearly broke his nose."

Bainbridge considered Aiden's story, while it had happened years ago it still showed that Hermione Granger had a tendency towards violence. Bainbridge also decided to wait until he had the full story before treating the story as truth, it was no secret that Ron Weasley wasn't the biggest fan of Draco Malfoy and he wouldn't put it past the redhead to embellish a story to make it sound more embarrassing for the other man.

After speaking again with the forensic team, who were examining the body closer and scouring the office for evidence, Bainbridge and Aiden headed to check on the rest of the team. With people eager to get away the witnesses had been co-operative and the last few were just leaving as Bainbridge entered the ballroom.

"Well do we have anything?" Bainbridge asked.

"Most people saw nothing but we do have a small handful who witnessed Lucius arguing earlier in the evening." One of the Auror's said.

"Who was he arguing with?" Bainbridge asked, hoping he was going to get a simple case to deal with and the killer would be pointed out straight away.

"We have several people who reckon he was arguing with his wife, Narcissa." The same Auror spoke again. "But several more insist it was his son, Draco, he was arguing with."

"Then there is another group who say it was his son's fiancé, Hermione, he was arguing with." Another Auror piped up.

"Interesting." Bainbridge mused. "If he argued with all three, I wonder which one he argued with last."

The rest of the Auror's all nodded, knowing exactly what Bainbridge was insinuating. Chances were whoever argued with Lucius last, killed him. Bainbridge gave several orders to his team before heading off to speak with the family for the victim, one of the Auror's was able to point him in the right direction after earlier finding out from Harry where the front room was located.

Bainbridge knocked once before entering the front room, his eyes immediately scanned the enormous room which was twice the size of the whole of the first floor of his modest house. His gaze then fell on the grieving family, not that anyone looked too distraught. A cool and composed Narcissa Malfoy sat in a high backed chair while Draco Malfoy and his fiancé sat side by side on a small sofa.

"I'm Calvin Bainbridge, Head Auror. I'll be conducting the investigation." Bainbridge introduced himself before sitting in the chair Draco gestured to.

"What happened?" Draco asked. "How did he die?"

"Mr Malfoy was struck on the back of his head, the blow was strong enough to kill him."

"He was murdered?" Narcissa whispered, horrified.

She hadn't seen Lucius as Harry had insisted that the fewer people who entered the study the better it was for the investigation. Narcissa had assumed that Lucius had suffered a heart attack or something similar, it had never once occurred to her that foul play could be involved.

"Yes Ma'am." Bainbridge nodded, studying the three people on the room closely. Narcissa's surprise seemed genuine but he would wait until he interviewed the three of them before making any decisions regarding their guilt. "I understand all three of you had words with Mr Malfoy tonight."

Bainbridge watched intently as all three visibly reacted to his accusation. Draco regained his composure the quickest, turning to glare at the Auror while Narcissa and Hermione looked wary.

"Are you accusing us of something?" Draco snapped, his grey eyes flashing dangerously.

"No, I'm merely stating facts." Bainbridge shrugged, not in the least bit intimidated by the youngest Malfoy. He could easily see how people could be intimidated by the frosty blond man in front of him but he had far too much experience as an Auror for it to work on him. "We have several people who heard Mr Malfoy arguing with all three of you over the course of the night."

"I suppose you want to know about the arguments then." Draco said.

"Not tonight. It's late, I think it would be best if we all got some rest. " Bainbridge said, standing up. "I would like all three of you to come into the Ministry tomorrow, I'll owl you with an appropriate time."

"Of course, we'll be there." Narcissa said.

"I'm afraid you'll not be able to stay in the Manor tonight Mrs Malfoy." Bainbridge said, addressing the blonde woman. "Hopefully we can get the investigation wrapped up quickly but it might take a few days before you can return. Do you have somewhere you can go?"

"You can stay with us, Narcissa." Hermione said, moving to perch on the arm of Narcissa's chair.

Bainbridge watched the genuine affection as Narcissa took hold of Hermione's hand and smiled at her future daughter-in-law. Bainbridge couldn't imagine Lucius Malfoy being happy with having a muggleborn in the family but clearly has wife had no problems with her son's choice of partner.

After checking the address where he could find the Malfoy family Bainbridge left the front room. After sending an Auror to stay with the family until they were ready to leave Bainbridge headed back into the study, where the investigation was now thoroughly underway. After leaving several more instructions to his team at the Manor he flooed back to the Ministry where he addressed the rest of his team that had returned to base.

Heading back into his office Bainbridge debated the case he was now working on. Logic dictated that Lucius's killer was someone he had argued with that night, leaving them with three prime suspects. Until he'd spoken to the trio and heard what the arguments were about Bainbridge was going to keep an open mind regarding their possible guilt. It was a strong possibility he had spoken with the killer tonight, but there was still an outside chance that someone else had been the one to actually see off the former Death Eater.


	2. Hermione

**A/N -**** The next three chapters are set in the months just prior to the party and will show the problems Hermione, Narcissa and Draco have with Lucius. **

* * *

**Three Months Previously – September.**

Checking the time Hermione Granger shut the book that was sitting open on her desk. Tidying up her work, Hermione grabbed her coat and bag and left the office. Hermione was meeting her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, for lunch and she was nearly running late. Because Hermione didn't work for the Ministry she often went days without seeing Harry and Ron so she cherished the days they met for lunch.

After the war Harry and Ron had went straight into Auror training while Hermione returned to school to retake her final year. Hermione knew that with her stellar academic record and her part in the war she could have taken any job she wished but after spending six years working hard at Hogwarts she really wanted the perfect exam results that she always hoped to achieve. Hermione also went back to school as she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life and the extra nine months of school gave her plenty of time to decide on a career.

After the devastation she had witnessed both during and after the war Hermione was determined to enjoy her life and not be sucked into a career that was boring and uninteresting. Over the course of the school year Hermione received several job offers, although she dismissed most of them straight away. Kingsley even offered her any job she wanted within the Ministry. Hermione was beginning to think she might have to take Kingsley up on his offer, despite it not being what she was interested in, when she received an offer of a job with a private firm based in London.

Squiggles and Falstaff, the firm who had approached her, specialised in finding and fixing rare magical possessions. All their staff were handpicked and only the best spell casters were approached and offered a job. The firm was split into several different sections, each section specialising in dealing with one type of object. Removing a curse on a pendant was a totally different prospect than removing a curse from a book, for example. The offer Hermione received was to work in the book department of the company.

The idea of working with ancient, powerful books greatly appealed to Hermione and after meeting with one of the senior partners she accepted a job with them. Since then Hermione had made good progress in her career and she was deputy head of the department, the youngest person in the firm to be in such a position of authority.

Hermione never one regretted her decision to work for Squiggles and Falstaff. She loved the variety in her work and found it extremely fulfilling. Hermione liked the fact that some days she would be breaking curses on dark books and the next day she could be enchanting books for a publisher. Hermione also enjoyed the travelling that came with her job, sometimes it was easier to travel to the clients and other times the travelling was because a client had requested a certain book that needed locating and buying.

Despite how much she loved her job, Hermione was very grateful she had taken it for another reason. Three and a half years ago it had brought her back into contact with Draco Malfoy, her new fiancé. Hermione had only been working at the company a year when her boss gave Hermione her first solo assignment. The initial excitement Hermione had felt at receiving her first client was dampened when her boss told her the identity of the client, Malfoy Holdings. Hermione knew that Draco was now in charge of the company but despite his change of attitude after the war she was still reluctant to deal with her former school adversary. Despite her reluctance to deal with Draco, Hermione put her job first and arranged a meeting with the former Slytherin.

Hermione was pleasantly surprised with the meeting, Draco was perfectly polite and seemed to have no problem working with her. The job was removing any dark curses from an old library of books that Draco's company had just bought. The job was a long one, taking almost three months to complete. Hermione was surprised that Draco was around quite often and took a real interest in both the books and how she was making them safe to read.

By the end of the three months Hermione and Draco had gotten to know each other pretty well and more often than not their meetings ended up with them flirting subtly with each other. As soon as the job was over Draco asked Hermione out on a date, after getting over the shock of Draco asking her out Hermione had agreed and the pair began dating.

Despite the many arguments the couple had their relationship flourished, within a year Hermione had moved into Draco's luxury flat in Chelsea. Despite living together quite happily marriage wasn't something that had been discussed, until the weekend just passed. When Hermione returned home on Friday night to find Draco was taking her away for the weekend she was pleased but as it was her birthday and something they regularly did she thought nothing of it. Despite the whole weekend being far more romantic than anything Draco ever did Hermione still didn't realise what was happening until Draco got down on one knee and produced a stunning diamond engagement ring.

Hermione's engagement was actually the reason she had wanted to meet with Harry and Ron for lunch. Normally they didn't meet on a Monday but Hermione was insistent, she knew the press would soon get hold of the engagement and she wanted to tell her friends first hand rather than have them read about it in the papers.

By the time Hermione arrived at the cafe where she regularly had lunch with her friends both Harry and Ron were waiting for her. Smiling at her friends Hermione made her way over to their table.

"Happy Birthday, 'Mione." Ron greeted his friend with a hug.

"Thanks Ron." Hermione smiled, turning to greet Harry who also wished her a happy birthday.

"Did you have a good birthday weekend?" Harry asked as the three friends sat down.

"I did, Draco took me to New York." Hermione said. "And he proposed."

"Finally, it took him long enough." Ron said with a grin.

"You knew he was going to propose?" Hermione asked stunned.

"Yeah." Harry nodded. "He told us a couple of months ago."

"We just didn't expect him to take so long to actually pluck up the courage to do it, no wonder he wasn't a Gryffindor." Ron added.

"So you guys are okay with me marrying Draco?" Hermione asked. There was no way she would dream of ending things with Draco just because her friends didn't approve but she really wanted them to be happy for her.

"Of course we are." Harry reassured Hermione. "You two are great together."

"I may not be Malfoy's biggest fan but he loves you, that's all that matters." Ron said, also reassuring Hermione he was fine with her engagement.

"Thank you." Hermione said.

When she had first started dating Draco both Harry and Ron had been sceptical of her decision but had agreed to respect her choice. Over the course of their relationship Harry and Ron accepted that Draco really had changed and loved Hermione. While the three men would never be particularly close they all loved Hermione enough to learn how to get along and a tentative friendship had been formed.

After checking out Hermione's ring and hearing about her weekend the talk turned to Hermione's birthday as the two boys presented her with presents. Ron gave Hermione a large gift bag filled with presents from his entire family before handing her a present from him and his girlfriend, Luna Lovegood. Harry also handed over a present from himself and his girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson.

After opening her presents and spending a leisurely lunch with her friends it was time for Hermione to head back to the office. Leaving Harry and Ron debating over whether to enjoy a second dessert Hermione apparated back to work.

"Hermione, you have a visitor in your office." Hermione's secretary announced upon her arrival back at work.

Eager to see who was in her office Hermione opened the door, barely able to conceal her groan as she spotted who was waiting for her. Shutting the door behind her Hermione removed her coat and placed her bags on the floor behind her desk before turning to the man who was standing in front of her window.

"Is there something I can do for you, Lucius?"

Lucius Malfoy tore his gaze away from the window, turning to look at the witch his son had chosen to get romantically involved with. Subjectively he could appreciate what attracted Draco to the witch, she had blossomed since school and was now very attractive and she was extremely smart, always a plus in his book. Lucius thought that Hermione might actually be the perfect match for his son if it wasn't for one pesky detail, she was a muggleborn.

"We need to talk." Lucius said, settling himself in the chair opposite Hermione's desk.

"I take it you spoke to Draco this morning." Hermione sat down in her own seat, not quite sure of what to expect from Lucius. Since she had been with Draco his father had been nothing but polite but Hermione got the impression he would be less than happy about their engagement.

"I have, he informed me of the events that took place over the weekend."

Hermione couldn't help the blush that appeared on her cheeks, she knew Lucius was referring to the engagement but she couldn't help her mind wandering to the mind-blowing sex that had also taken place over the weekend.

"As I was saying, Draco informed me of your engagement." Lucius said, smirking at the flustered witch. He was quite surprised that the prim and proper witch had clearly been thinking about another aspect of her weekend.

"Let's guess, you're not happy." Hermione said, dragging her mind away from memories of the weekend.

"No." Lucius appreciated Hermione's straightforward approach and as such was prepared to be equally as straight to the point. "I'm here to offer you a deal."

"What sort of a deal?" Hermione asked confused. She was expecting Lucius to demand she break off the engagement.

"I want you to break off your engagement to Draco." Lucius said, holding his hand up to stop Hermione from interrupting. "Let him marry a pure blood witch and carry on the family line in the right way."

"Why on earth would I do that?" Hermione asked, amazed that Lucius thought she would walk away from Draco. "I love your son."

"I know, and he loves you." Lucius said, smirking at the surprised look on Hermione's face. "I wouldn't expect you to stop seeing each other, you would just have to be discreet. As long as Draco marries a pure blood witch and has a son of pure blood heritage, he can sleep with whomever he wishes on the side."

"You want me to become Draco's mistress?" Hermione inquired, still stunned by what she was hearing.

"Essentially yes." Lucius nodded, pleased the witch was understanding him. "If you agree, I'll but you a house wherever you want and you and Draco can continue your relationship in private. Nothing will really change."

"Nothing will change, are you serious?" Hermione shouted. "You're mad if you think I'd give up the man I love and become his mistress. Do you really think I'd want to watch him marry someone else and have children with her?"

"Being a mistress is better than being an ex." Lucius announced, standing up. "You have to the end of the year to accept my offer."

"What if I don't accept?" Hermione asked, glaring at the man in front of her.

"Then I make sure Draco breaks the engagement, only when he does it I'll ensure that he walks away from you without looking back. You will become a dim and distant memory for my son."

"Draco would never do that." Hermione smirked, confident that Draco would choose her over his father if he was forced to do so.

"You overestimate him, my dear. At the end of the day Draco is a Malfoy, he'll ultimately do what's right for the family, even if it means sacrificing his own happiness." Lucius smirked at Hermione before turning towards the door.

"You underestimate him, Lucius." Hermione called, stopping Lucius just as he reached for the door handle. "You still think he's the same little boy who was so desperate for daddy's approval that he did whatever you wanted, but he's not. He tried gaining your approval and all he got in return was pain and suffering. He's spent the last five years breaking away from everything you'd instilled in him and finding out who he really is. I promise you, the man Draco is today would never leave me on his father's say so."

Lucius looked slightly shell-shocked by Hermione's speech, for the first time he looked less than confident in the outcome of his ultimatum. Hermione watched as Lucius quickly regained his composure, once again becoming the cocky man she knew.

"I hope for your sake you're right, but just in case I would seriously consider my offer if I were you. Remember if you're wrong, you'll lose Draco for good." Lucius looked Hermione directly in the eye, determined to intimidate the witch. When it didn't work he turned on his heel and left the office.

After Lucius's departure Hermione sat at her desk for several minutes, reliving the conversation. Hermione was still stunned that Lucius would have the gall to make such an outrageous suggestion to her. For the rest of the afternoon her conversation with Lucius played on Hermione's mind, meaning she got little work done. After trying for the third time to remove a simple curse from a book Hermione decided she would leave work early, she worked plenty of late nights to justify leaving early.

After gathering her belongings and saying goodnight to her secretary Hermione flooed home. Hermione arrived home expecting the flat to be empty, unless she was working late she always beat Draco home. Noises from the kitchen however indicated that Hermione was not the first person to arrive home from work. Vanishing her bags and coat to the bedroom Hermione headed towards the kitchen, stopping in the doorway she smiled at the sight in front of her.

Draco was standing with his back to her preparing dinner, he had changed out of his work clothes and was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and jogging bottoms. Hermione could still remember how shocked she had been to discover Draco could actually cook. It was their third date when Draco had invited Hermione to his flat for dinner, Hermione had expected that a house elf would have prepared the meal so she was amazed when she arrived to discover Draco in the kitchen. Hermione had since discovered that Draco was actually a great cook, his food was much better than anything she could make with her mediocre cooking abilities.

Walking into the kitchen Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's waist, placing a kiss on the back of his neck. "Hey, you're home early."

"So are you." Draco replied, turning round in Hermione's embrace.

"I couldn't concentrate." Hermione shrugged. She was unsure of mentioning Lucius's visit to Draco, she knew the two men had a stormy relationship and she didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble between father and son.

"It'll be the excitement of being engaged to someone as brilliant as me." Draco smirked.

"I'm sure that's it." Hermione rolled her eyes. "So why are you home so early?"

"The meeting I was due to have was cancelled." Draco replied. "Rather than head back into the office I thought I'd just come home."

"I'm pleased you're here." Hermione sighed, leaning her head on Draco's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked.

"I'm fine, I've just had a bad day." Hermione said, failing to mention the reason for her bad day was Draco's father. "I think I'm going to have a long soak in the bath."

"Do you need any help scrubbing your back?" Draco asked, smiling suggestively at his fiancé.

"What about dinner? Won't it burn?" Hermione asked.

Draco reached for his wand that was lying on the counter and cast several spells on the food, stopping it from burning or ruining. "Satisfied?" He asked.

"Not yet." Hermione smiled. "Hopefully I soon will be."

Draco grinned at Hermione before leaning down and crashing his lips into hers. Passionately kissing they began tugging on each other's clothes. As Draco's t-shirt came off, closely followed by Hermione's blouse, the couple began heading towards the bathroom, shedding more clothes along the way. By the time they reached the bathroom they were down to their underwear, which was quickly shed as Hermione magically ran the water in the large bathtub.

Hermione barely gave Lucius a second thought all night as she enjoyed spending quality time with her fiancé. Any miniscule doubts she harboured about Lucius splitting her and Draco up were vanished as Draco showered her with attention. No matter what his father said Hermione knew Draco loved her and she was confident that their relationship was strong enough to survive anything Lucius could throw at it.


	3. Narcissa

**Two Months Previously - October.**

Entering the master bedroom in the Manor, Narcissa Malfoy placed her overnight bag onto the bed, sitting down beside it with a sigh. She was meant to be spending the weekend at a new wizarding spa with her friend Sylvia, but when she arrived at the Parkinson house she had found her friend was coming down with flu. Narcissa had insisted that Sylvia spend the weekend resting and they would rearrange the trip to the spa.

When she returned home Narcissa had sent an owl to the spa cancelling their weekend, she then carried her bag through the empty house towards the bedroom. Lucius was in Edinburgh on business for the weekend and expecting to be away herself for the weekend Narcissa had given the house elves the weekend off.

Sitting alone in the bedroom Narcissa wondered what to do with herself. Narcissa didn't like the idea of having no firm plans for the next couple of days, she much preferred to organise her time and know exactly what she was doing. Narcissa debated her options in her head, she could go shopping but she wasn't really one of those women who shopped just for the sake of it. She thought about going to visit Hermione to discuss the wedding but she wary in case she already had plans, she didn't want to just assume the witch wasn't busy.

Narcissa suddenly smiled, an idea popping into her head. She would go and surprise Lucius, she knew he was staying at the flat in Edinburgh what belonged to Malfoy Holdings. Satisfied with her idea Narcissa began to unpack her bag and repack it with clothing suited to spending a weekend with her husband. Narcissa was hoping that Lucius wouldn't mind her showing up, after all the only reason she hadn't accompanied him in the first place was the fact the weekend clashed with her prearranged spa weekend with Sylvia.

After repacking her bag Narcissa changed into an outfit she knew Lucius liked before heading towards the fireplace. Steeping into the green flames Narcissa left behind her bedroom in Wiltshire and arrived in a neat living room in Scotland. Narcissa was fully expecting the flat to be empty so it was no great surprise when the front room was deserted. Placing her bag on a chair she looked around the flat, she had only visited the place a couple of times and it looked like it had been decorated since her last visit.

Narcissa was just about to pick up her bag and head to the bedroom when she heard a feminine moan. Narcissa froze, wondering if there had been a last minute change of plans and Draco had taken Lucius' place on the business trip and had brought Hermione along to accompany him. Deciding it was safer to leave the flat Narcissa picked up her bag, she already knew more about her son's sex life than she wished to thanks to an awkward incident a few months ago. Narcissa had been visiting Hermione when Draco had returned home unexpectedly, not seeing his mother in the room he had begun to tell Hermione what he planned on doing with her for the rest of the day. That afternoon had been embarrassing to all concerned but it had shown Narcissa that her son had a very dirty mouth and she was worried that if she stayed in the flat too long she would hear more disturbing information about Draco.

Narcissa tried to block out the moaning she could hear coming from the bedroom as she picked up some floo powder from the fireplace. Just as she was about to throw it into the flames, something dark caught her eye. Looking at a nearby chair Narcissa immediately recognised the cloak draped over the chair as her husbands, his cane was also leaning casually against the chair. Placing her bag down on the floor Narcissa threw the floo powder back into the pot before slowly approaching the cloak and cane.

Narcissa stood looking at her husband's belongings for several minutes, not wanting to believe what the presence of Lucius's things meant. Another loud moan from the bedroom attracted Narcissa's attention. Almost of their own accord her feet began carrying her in the direction of the bedroom. Narcissa wasn't sure she wanted to witness what was happening in the room but at the same time if Lucius was cheating on her she wanted to know who with.

Approaching the bedroom door Narcissa saw it was open enough that she could see into the room without making her presence known. Steeping up to the doorway Narcissa found she had a perfect view of the bed, she could clearly see her husband's naked body entwined with a feminine form. From the angle she was standing Narcissa couldn't see the face of the woman under Lucius, she could however tell from her lithe body and perky breasts that she was a lot younger than herself.

Narcissa wanted to turn around and leave but she found she was glued to the spot, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight of Lucius roughly pounding into his young mistress. All of a sudden Lucius and the woman he was with rolled over, changing positions. Narcissa gasped loudly as she recognised the young woman on top of her husband, luckily the couple in bed hadn't heard Narcissa as they were making too much noise themselves. Narcissa started at the woman on top of Lucius, she currently had her head thrown back in ecstasy as her moans increased in volume. Narcissa could hardly believe the identity of the woman with Lucius, she was shocked enough that he was cheating but the fact he was sleeping with a friend of Draco's was appalling.

Narcissa was just about to enter the bedroom when Lucius sat up slightly, pulling his mistress into a deep kiss. Narcissa felt tears run down her cheeks as she watched Lucius kiss the woman he was in bed with, it was very obvious from the intimate nature of the kiss that her husband had real feelings for the woman with him and he wasn't just with her for sex.

Crying silently Narcissa made her way back to the front room and grabbed her bag. The last thing Narcissa heard as she flooed home was her husband's mistress screaming his name loudly.

The minute she arrived home Narcissa threw her bag down and collapsed onto the bed, tears flowing at her husband's betrayal. Narcissa wondered if he had cheated before or if this was his first time being unfaithful. Throughout their relationship they had never discussed monogamy but Narcissa had always assumed their relationship was exclusive.

Narcissa then began to wonder about the state of Lucius's relationship with his mistress. When she first saw them together she assumed it was purely about sex but the intimate kiss she had witnessed before her departure led her to believe there were genuine feelings involved. Whether it was a purely sexual relationship or whether there were feeling involved, Narcissa was upset that she wasn't enough for her husband. While it had taken a while for her and Lucius to fall in love Narcissa was under the impression her marriage was a solid one and their sex life had never been lacking, even now it was still very healthy.

Lying alone in the large bed she shared with her husband Narcissa thought about her relationship with Lucius, wondering if things would have been different if they had been in love when they married. Maybe if they had married for love rather than to keep their family lines pure she would have a husband who appreciated what he had at home. Or maybe she shouldn't have gotten married at all, Narcissa was very aware that the main reason she even got married was to keep her father happy.

Growing up Narcissa had always been a daddy's girl, all she ever wanted was to make her father proud of her. The summer before Narcissa's seventh year at Hogwarts her father announced that it was time she began thinking about getting married. Narcissa knew that her father wasn't happy with either of her sister's choices of husband, Andromeda had eloped with a muggleborn and was promptly disinherited and while Bellatrix had married a pure blood their father considered Rodolphus Lestrange a crude, ill-mannered man that wasn't worthy of his daughter.

Throughout the summer Narcissa's father threw a lot of parties and introduced his youngest daughter to many men he considered a suitable candidate for her husband. After a handful of parties Narcissa was growing weary of meeting men who had no interest in her personally, they just wanted to marry into a respectable pureblood family. It was because of this boredom that Narcissa was so enraptured by Lucius when they met at one of the parties and he actually showed an interest in her opinions and treated her like a person in her own right, not just a prize to be won.

Narcissa was rather taken with Lucius and the couple spent the rest of their summer together and even continued their relationship once Narcissa went back to school. Narcissa was surprised when Lucius proposed over the Christmas break, with her father approving of their relationship and encouraging her to stick with the blond man she accepted the proposal. The whole family was ecstatic with the engagement apart from Bellatrix, who for some reason had taken against Lucius and often encouraged her little sister she could do much better than Lucius.

The couple's parents planned the wedding while Narcissa finished her education, two months after Narcissa left Hogwarts she and Lucius were married in a lavish ceremony. Even when she got married Narcissa knew she wasn't in love with Lucius but she also knew that there was a strong possibility she would end up falling for her husband. Lucius himself had been honest with Narcissa and told her that while he didn't love her at the time of their union he could certainly come to love her given time.

Despite not being in love when they married Narcissa and Lucius were practically inseparable for the first year of their marriage as they got to know each other better. By their first anniversary Narcissa knew she was in love with Lucius, while her husband didn't return the sentiment he appreciated her telling him and promised her that one day he would be able to tell her the same thing. Narcissa knew that it would be harder for her husband to admit he loved her, Lucius had grown up in an emotionally cold house and found it harder to express his emotions, whereas she always knew her parents loved her and had no problems freely showing how much she loved people. It took Lucius another six months to admit he loved Narcissa but once he told her the first time he made sure his wife always knew how much she meant to him.

After being married a few years Narcissa and Lucius started discussing children, it was no surprise that Lucius wanted a boy to carry on the family name but he surprised Narcissa when he admitted he would actually like a little girl as well. Within months of them starting to try for a family Narcissa found herself pregnant. The pregnancy was a smooth one and both Narcissa and Lucius were thrilled when she gave birth to a healthy boy.

The first year of Draco's life was actually one of the worst for their marriage as Narcissa was strongly opposed to Lucius's involvement with Voldemort. Once Voldemort was gone and the couple sorted out their differences they began trying for another baby. After five years and three heart-breaking miscarriages the couple agreed that they wouldn't try for any more children, they would just be grateful for the son they had.

Despite people's opinions on the Malfoy family and their seemingly coldness the family were actually a happy, loving one. Draco grew up knowing his parents loved him and each other, even if Lucius was sometimes too strict and demanding with his son. There were actually very few problems in the Malfoy's marriage until the return of Voldemort. Narcissa was still unhappy with her husband's involvement with Voldemort but understood they were in no position to break away from the dark side without suffering severe consequences.

After Lucius was arrested at the end of Draco's fifth year Narcissa seriously considered leaving her husband. If it hadn't been for the fact that there was no way Narcissa could have gotten Draco away from Voldemort without her son losing his life she would have left Lucius. The fact that Lucius had dragged Draco into the war was a major problem between the couple. Throughout the war they barely spoke and once it was over Narcissa had planned on finally leaving her husband.

After the war however Lucius had begged for forgiveness for his involvement with Voldemort. Between his very public effort to change and his private grovelling Narcissa stayed with Lucius, he was her husband and despite everything she still loved him. It took a while for their relationship to get back on track but Narcissa had been under the impression that they were happy again, if anything she thought their relationship was even stronger. Clearly there was a problem she didn't know about if her husband was sleeping with a woman young enough to be his daughter.

* * *

...

* * *

After spending the weekend dwelling on what she had discovered Narcissa was ready and waiting to confront Lucius when he returned home late on Sunday night. Narcissa was determined the conversation would be civil and she wouldn't lose her temper, she was worried that if she got too emotional she would end up walking out on Lucius and she hadn't decided if that was what she wanted to do or not.

Narcissa was sitting in the centre of their large bed when Lucius walked in the doorway, looking tired. Normally Narcissa would have asked him about his fatigue but she knew exactly what he had been doing to leave him so tired.

When Lucius reached to kiss her Narcissa turned away, meaning her husband's lips barely grazed her cheek. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"We need to talk." Narcissa replied.

"What about?" Lucius asked, sitting nervously on the edge of the bed. "Has something happened I don't know about?"

"You know all about it." Narcissa snapped. "It's me who's been in the dark until now."

"What are you talking about Narcissa? You're making no sense." Lucius snapped, growing impatient with his wife.

"I'll get straight to the point then. How long have you been having an affair?" Narcissa watched as Lucius looked at her stunned, his mouth gaping open as he processed his wife's question.

"I don't know what you mean." Lucius said, stalling for time.

"Don't." Narcissa said coldly. "I know all about your affair, so don't try denying it. Answer the question, how long?"

Lucius opened his mouth to deny the claims but the look on Narcissa's face had the words sticking in his throat. "Two years, give or take." He had decided if he wanted Narcissa to forgive him he had to be honest with her.

Narcissa gasped, shocked at the length of time it had been going on. "Why? Am I not enough for you? Or is some sort of thrill sleeping with a girl young enough to be your daughter?"

"The why is easy, sex." Lucius admitted. "It has nothing to do with you, Cissa. I love you."

"If you love me then why do it?" Narcissa asked sadly.

"I was weak." Lucius sighed, hanging his head in shame. "She's young and pretty, and when she made a move on me I was flattered."

"That explains the first time, but what made you carry on for two years? Do you love her?" Narcissa heard her voice break as she asked the question she was dreading the answer to.

Lucius looked at his wife and reached for her hand, when she pulled away he settled for keeping eye contact. "No, I love you. I have no excuse for it going on so long but it's you I love, I never would have left you for her."

"But you do care about her." Narcissa stated, she had witnessed that with her own eyes.

Lucius looked at his wife for a few minutes before subtly nodding his head. He could try denying having any feelings for his mistress and claiming that the relationship was purely sexual but it was clear that Narcissa wouldn't believe that.

"How do you know?" Lucius asked when his wife didn't speak again. He had been wondering since she first mentioned the subject but hadn't found an appropriate time to ask before now.

"How I know doesn't matter." Narcissa said, she didn't want to think about the awful way she had found out about her husband's infidelity.

"What's going to happen now?" Lucius asked, knowing his marriage was hanging by a thread and it was his wife that would decide if it was worth saving.

"That depends on you. If you want to save our marriage you end it immediately and never see her again. If it's her you want then you leave this house now and never return."

"I don't want her, Cissa, I want you." Lucius told his wife. "I'll end it, I promise. But I can't promise to never see her again. She's Draco's friend we're bound to run into each other occasionally."

"I know that, when it's unavoidable I'll stand for you being in the same room as her but that's all. If I get one hint that there's something else going on between the two of you, we're finished." Narcissa told Lucius, wondering if she was doing the right thing staying with her husband.

"What about Draco? Are you going to tell him what I've done?" Lucius asked. His earlier mention of his son had made him wonder if Narcissa was planning on informing Draco about his affair.

"No, this is between you and I." Narcissa replied. "Besides your relationship with Draco is strained enough without him finding out about this."

"Thank you." Lucius said, breathing a sigh of relief. He honestly didn't think Draco would forgive him for hurting Narcissa as much as he clearly had.

"I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for Draco." Narcissa said, turning away from Lucius.

Lucius watched as his wife struggled to contain her emotions, while she had been calm and collected throughout the conversation he had noticed the unshed tears swimming in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Cissa. I never meant to hurt you." He said quietly. Over the course of his affair he had suffered from moments of guilt but none as bad as the awful guilty feeling that was now firmly sitting inside him.

"Well you have." Narcissa turned back to face her husband. "I want to know one more thing and then I wish to forget all about this."

Lucius nodded, pleased that his wife was at least giving him a chance to make things right between them. "What do you want to know?"

"Was she your first or have you had other affairs?" Narcissa asked. "I want the truth, Lucius. If I'm going to forgive you I need to know every time you've cheated on me." She had noticed how pale Lucius had suddenly gone at her question and was now convinced that his latest affair wasn't his first.

Lucius took a deep breath, he knew what he was about to admit could destroy his marriage but he knew he had to be honest with Narcissa if he wanted her forgiveness. "She wasn't the first. There was one other person."

"Who? When?" Narcissa asked, wondering why Lucius was suddenly acting so guilty. He had already been caught cheating surely nothing he could say would be worse. Unfortunately Narcissa was wrong, the next words out of his mouth were much worse than she ever could have imagined.

"Bella."

"Bella?" Narcissa couldn't help but shout as her husband revealed the other person he had cheated on her with. "My sister, Bella? The one who hated you?"

"Yes." Lucius nodded. "She always hated me because of a fling we had during school, she wanted more but I wasn't interested."

"That was before we were together." Narcissa said. "When were you with her once we were a couple?"

"The first time was a few months after we were married." Lucius admitted. He knew at the time he didn't love Narcissa the way he did now but he still knew he shouldn't have slept with her sister, especially since he didn't even like Bella. "She came round to see you but you were out. One thing led to another and we ended up in bed."

Narcissa closed her eyes, taking in what Lucius was admitting to her. "You said the first time. it happened more than once?" Narcissa's eyes snapped open as she thought about Lucius's words.

"It happened twice. The second time was just after her escape from Azkaban. You and I were arguing over my part in The Dark Lord's activities. I know it's not a good reason to cheat but I was annoyed that you were so against my decisions and all I wanted was for my wife to support me. Bella found me drinking one night after you'd stormed off to bed and she used my drunkenness to convince me to go to bed with her. I regretted it as soon as it happened but I could never find the courage to tell you." Lucius knew his second betrayal with Bella was worse than the first one and he had no idea whether or not Narcissa could forgive him.

Wordlessly Narcissa rose from the bed and walked towards the en-suite bathroom. Lucius called out to his wife but she ignored him, entering the bathroom and locking the door behind her. Once in the bathroom Narcissa sunk down onto the floor as sobs wracked her body, she thought it was bad when she knew Lucius had been having an affair but it was ten times worse to know he had betrayed her with her own sister.

Narcissa sat on the floor crying for a long time, when she did eventually calm down she ran a bath and soaked in the soothing water for nearly an hour. After a relaxing bath Narcissa got ready for bed before plucking up the courage to emerge from the bathroom. Lucius was still sitting on the edge of the bed and Narcissa idly wondered if he had been there the entire time she had been in the bathroom.

"Cissa, are you alright?" Lucius asked, it had been heart wrenching to hear his wife breakdown once she locked herself away from him.

"No, I'm not alright." Narcissa replied, walking straight past her husband.

"Do you want me to go?" Lucius asked.

"I don't know what I want." Narcissa admitted, turning to face her husband. "Part of me thinks I should throw you out and never speak to you again."

"What does the other part of you think?" Lucius asked, hoping there was some part of his wife that wanted to save their marriage.

"The other part thinks I should try to forgive you. We've been together for over twenty years, we have a son together and more importantly despite everything I still love you."

"I love you too, Cissa. Please give me a chance to prove it to you." Lucius pleaded with his wife, moving as close as he dared to the witch.

"I'll think about it." Narcissa said, turning to the bed and climbing into her side.

Lucius debated asking if he was allowed to stay in the room but decided he would use the bathroom first. Returning from the bathroom Lucius noticed that Narcissa was curled up in her side of the bed, as far away from his side as was physically possible. Deciding to try his luck Lucius slid into bed, when he got no protest from his wife he settled down and turned off the lights.

Sleep was a long time coming for the couple. While Lucius worried over the state of his marriage Narcissa was trying to decide whether she could ever get over what her husband had done. Still undecided whether she wanted to remain with her husband Narcissa drifted off to sleep, never noticing the wizard beside her was still lying wide awake as guilt plagued his mind.


	4. Draco

**One Month Previously - November.**

Draco Malfoy sat in the front room of his luxury flat, the ton of glossy wedding brochures on the coffee table lay untouched as the blond stared off into space. It was Hermione's day off work so he had also taken the day off so that the couple could begin to plan their wedding. So far the plans hadn't gotten anywhere as the couple had spent the morning in bed and had only emerged from the bedroom an hour ago.

"You don't look to have gotten very far." Hermione commented, entering the front room carrying two cups of coffee.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something else." Draco replied as Hermione placed the cups on the table and sat down next to him.

"Narcissa?" She questioned.

Draco nodded, over the last few weeks his mother had been acting strange and he was worried about her. His normally feisty mother had been withdrawn lately and the only thing she seemed to show any interest in was Draco and Hermione's upcoming wedding.

"I just wish I knew what was wrong." Draco sighed. "She's been quiet enough anyway but she's practically stoic whenever father is around."

"I noticed." Hermione said.

A recent dinner with Draco's parents had proved the most uncomfortable night Hermione had spent with the Malfoy's. Between the obvious tension between Lucius and Narcissa and the lingering resentment following Lucius's outrageous suggestion to Hermione the dinner was a stilted and uncomfortable affair for everyone.

"Are you worried they're having problems?" Hermione asked. She knew that despite their seemingly cold manner Draco's parents loved each other and Draco had grown up in a relatively happy home.

"Yeah, even during the war when things were bad between them they at least spoke to each other." Draco sighed.

"Have you asked either of them about it?" Hermione asked. She had wondered about broaching the subject with Narcissa herself but despite being close with Draco's mother she ultimately felt it wasn't her place to ask about the state of her marriage.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "They both say everything's fine, but I don't believe them."

"Do you really think they'd separate?"

"I want to say no, but I'm not sure at the minute." Draco said. "Mother didn't leave father during the war, despite being tempted, so if they did split it would be because of something major."

"I'm sure it won't come to that." Hermione said.

"I hope not." Draco said. "Anyway I think we've spent enough time talking about my parents. We should really start concentrating on the reason I actually took the day off work."

Hermione smiled and handed Draco a brochure from the top of one of the two piles, she knew he was just trying to distract himself from worrying about his parents but she was hoping that after a while he might forget about Lucius and Narcissa and start thinking about their wedding. The couple had decided to first find a venue to get married, then they would see what dates the place had available. Neither Hermione or Draco were bothered if their engagement was long or short, as long as they got married it didn't bother them how long it took to get there.

Draco flicked through the brochure, curling his nose up at the tacky pictures he was seeing. Tossing it on the floor he picked up the next one on the pile. Looking through the brochure he realised it was advertising themed weddings and he couldn't contain a snort at some of the ridiculous themes pictured.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked, not looking up from her brochure advertising beach weddings.

"This muggle brochure. This place specialises in themed weddings." Draco told Hermione. "You should see some of the idiots in here. Who on earth wants to dress up like an freak on their wedding day?"

Hermione looked up from her own brochure and leaned over to get a look at the one in Draco's hands. "So no themed wedding." She said, looking wary of some of the pictures herself.

"Hell no." Draco snorted. "I don't do dressing up."

Hermione knew all about her fiancé's aversion to dressing up. Last Halloween when his friend Daphne Greengrass threw a lavish fancy dress party he refused to dress up, although he had no objection to Hermione wearing a very sexy cat outfit.

"We could always have a Quidditch themed wedding." Hermione suggested with a sly smile. "You never object to dressing up in your old uniform."

"That's because it always leads to a night of hot sex." Draco smirked. "I have no objection to wearing it in the bedroom, seen as it gets you all hot and bothered, but I'm not about to get married in it. Besides you wouldn't be able to keep your hands off me long enough to get through the ceremony."

Hermione laughed knowing Draco's last statement was actually pretty accurate, she did find it hard to keep her hands off the blond when he was in his old Quidditch uniform.

Dismissing themed weddings Draco threw the brochure on the floor with the other one he had discarded. Hermione also threw her brochure containing beach weddings on the discarded pile, while the idea of getting married on a tropical beach was quite appealing Hermione knew it would be easier if they held the wedding in England.

For the next hour Hermione and Draco looked through the brochures, discussing a few possibilities but discarding most of the brochures onto the floor. Hermione was about to suggest they had a break when a page in the brochure she was looking at caught her eye. She was currently browsing through a brochure advertising weddings at a rural muggle hotel.

"How would you feel about turning the wedding into a whole weekend?" Hermione asked, reading the brochure closely.

"How would that work?" Draco asked. "Who needs a whole weekend to get married?"

"It's quite popular apparently." Hermione said, quoting a few facts from the brochure she was reading. "This hotel here specialises in wedding weekends, usually most of the guest only arrive for the actual day of the wedding but the wedding party and close friends and family spend the entire weekend at the hotel."

"Let's have a look." Draco said, holding out his hand for the brochure Hermione was looking at.

Hermione handed it to him and he began to read. According to the brochure the best time to have the actual ceremony was on the Sunday afternoon but the festivities usually began on the Friday night. The more he read the more impressed with the idea Draco was, he liked the idea of everyone arriving at the hotel on the Friday and having a meal together, the day before the wedding would be spent relaxing and using the facilities of the hotel and the wedding and reception would be held on the last day.

"I like it." Draco said, warming to the idea. "But I would like to see if we could get a wizarding hotel that did the same thing."

"What's the difference?" Hermione asked. "Most of what you would find in an upscale wizarding hotel you can find in the expensive muggle ones."

"I know but most of our friends are magical, I just feel they would be more comfortable in a place where magic was allowed." Draco explained. He personally had nothing against muggle hotels but he did feel that it would be easier if their wedding took place in the wizarding world.

Hermione nodded, seeing Draco's point. While a lot of their friends were comfortable around muggles most had grown up in the wizarding world. Then there was Draco's family to consider, despite their new attitude she knew that Narcissa and especially Lucius were still uncomfortable in the muggle world.

"I'm sure we can find somewhere suitable in the wizarding world." Hermione said, finding the wizarding wedding brochures among the muggle ones. Once she had separated them she handed a pile to Draco and the couple began looking for somewhere they could hire for the weekend.

Hermione might have pushed for holding the wedding in the muggle world if her parents would have been there, but unfortunately she was currently estranged from them. The summer after her sixth year Hermione had removed her parents memories and sent them to Australia in an attempt to keep them safe during the war. When she had gone to find them after the war the reunion hadn't been as smooth as she had expected. Her parents had listened to her reasoning for doing what she did but they couldn't forgive her for doing it behind their backs. Her parents had then decided to stay in Australia and Hermione had had little contact with them since. For years she had tried desperately to build bridges with them but eventually she had realised that things would never be the same with her parents. When she had written to inform them of her engagement they had written back congratulating her but made it clear that they wouldn't be attending her wedding, they wished to have no contact with the wizarding world and refused to break their stance even for their daughter's wedding.

After searching through a handful of brochures Draco found the perfect hotel in the Cotswolds. Draco liked the fact it had a private Quidditch pitch, something he knew the men would like while Hermione liked the fact it had a top class spa, which would be ideal for the women.

"I'll send them an owl asking if we can go and have a look around." Hermione said, once they decided they wanted to use the venue.

While Hermione went off to compose a letter to the hotel Draco began gathering up the discarded brochures before taking them into the kitchen. Draco placed the brochures in a neat pile on the kitchen table so they could be recycled before returning to the front room. Arriving back in the front room Draco frowned at the sight of an owl tapping at the front window, he immediately recognised the owl as belonging to Malfoy Holdings. Draco opened the window, letting the owl in. Taking the letter from its leg he wondered why someone from work was writing to him, surely they could manage for one day without him.

Hermione entered the room just as the owl flew back out of the window. "Was that one of the owls from Malfoy Holdings?" She asked, recognising the owl as she often received messages via owl from Draco when he was working late.

"Yes." Draco said, reading the letter that was attached to the owls leg. "Jack needs to see me urgently." Jack Sinclair was Draco's deputy at the company and was often in charge when Draco was out of the office.

"What about?" Hermione asked.

"He doesn't say, the letter just says it's urgent and he needs to see me now." Draco said, folding the letter up and placing it on the table.

"Well you better go." Hermione told her fiancé. "Just remember we're going to Harry and Pansy's tonight, so don't be too long." She reminded him as he left to get changed.

Ten minutes later after changing Draco gave Hermione a brief kiss before flooing to his office. Draco arrived in his office to find Jack was already waiting for him.

"What's going on?" Draco asked. He trusted Jack to handle the business in his absence and knew he would only have called him into the office if there was a major problem.

"I was filing this week's contracts when I came across this one." Jack said, handing Draco a stack of documents. "I thought you should see it before I put in through the system."

Draco stared at the contract in his hand, it was with a company he had stopped dealing with right after he took over the business. "This makes no sense, we don't do business with Dolman's anymore."

"I know, that's why I called you." Jack said. "I would have gone to Lucius but he was the one that signed the contract."

At Jack's words Draco flipped to the back of the contract, shaking his head at the sight of his father's distinctive signature.

"I'll deal with this. You can get back to work." Draco said, dismissing Jack. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"It's fine. I know how hard you've worked to turn the company around and to gain a good reputation, I don't want that to be ruined." Jack said before leaving the office.

Draco stared at the contract in his hands, totally bemused as to why his father would sign a contract with a company he knew they no longer dealt with. Lucius technically still owned fifty per cent of the company but Draco was the C.E.O of the company and had ran it for the last five and a half years.

Deciding to confront his father over the contract Draco left his office and walked down the corridor to his father's office. Lucius still had an office in the building and while Draco ran the business his father still contributed quite a lot to the firm.

"What the hell is this?" Draco demanded, storming into his father's office and throwing the contract on his desk.

"It looks like a contract of some sort." Lucius answered, getting up from his seat and shutting the door behind his son. He didn't want the entire floor to witness the argument he was certain was about to take place.

"I know that. I want to know why you did it? Why do a deal with a company you know I won't do business with?" Draco asked.

"It was a good deal." Lucius shrugged. "Richard Dolman offered much better value for money than the company you deal with."

"I don't care. He could offer his services for free and I still wouldn't do business with him. You know how hard I've worked to make this company respectable, I won't deal with anyone associated with the dark arts." Draco spoke in icy tones, he knew from experience that shouting wouldn't work with Lucius. If he wanted his father to listen to him he had to stay calm.

"Isn't that kind of hypocritical coming from the man with a dark mark on his arm." Lucius sneered.

"Don't you dare bring my mark into this." Draco said, starting to get angry at his father. "Don't forget that you're the reason I have this thing."

"Keep telling yourself that, Draco." Lucius said, returning to his seat and propping his feet up on the desk. "We both know that my actions only hastened your entrance to the Death Eaters, you would have ended up with the mark all of your own accord if given time."

"We'll never know though, will we." Draco said. He liked to think that if given time he would have turned his back on the dark arts before joining Voldemort of his own accord, but it was something that he would never know for sure.

Lucius smirked at Draco, wondering what his son was going to do now. He was surprised he had remained so calm, he had expected him to explode when he brought up his mark as he knew how sensitive he was about it.

"Just so you know, I won't be honouring the contract." Draco said, picking the contract in question up and ripping it in half. "And I won't authorize any business dealings with people I deem unsuitable."

"What if I deem them suitable?" Lucius asked. "I still own half the company, I can authorize contracts with whomever I wish."

"I won't stand back and let you ruin this company." Draco snapped. "I've spent the last five years turning the business around and there's no way I'm letting you drag it back to the state it was in."

"This company was mine and I think it's about time I took it back." Lucius said, suddenly standing up and glaring at Draco.

"That's not going to happen, I'll fight you all the way." Draco told his father, wondering why he was suddenly taking such an interest in the business.

"What are you going to do, buy me out?" Lucius laughed.

"If that's what it takes, yes." Draco said. "This is my company now and it's about time you left."

"And what if I don't want to leave?" Lucius asked.

"I don't care, I want you gone." Draco glared at his father. "Next week I'll look into buying you out of the business. Your days here are numbered."

With one final glare at his father Draco turned and stalked out of his office, missing the smug smirk on Lucius's face as he left. Lucius was very pleased with the meeting, Draco had done exactly what he had expected him to do and in doing so he had given Lucius a bargaining chip as he prepared to remove Hermione from his son's life.

Draco stayed in his office for several hours, contemplating the meeting with his father. He was determined to hold onto the company he had put so much work in but he was unsure if he could realistically afford to buy his father out of the business. Draco was pretty rich but the majority of his inheritance was actually tied up in the business and until he looked into his finances more closely he had no idea if he would be in any sort of position to get rid of his father from the company.

After dwelling on his problems for a while Draco suddenly remembered Hermione's warning about their plans for the evening. Cursing to himself Draco quickly flooed back to the flat he shared with his fiancé. After finding the front room empty Draco found Hermione in their bedroom, putting the finishing touches to her outfit.

"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked as Draco entered the room. "You've been a while."

"It's fine. Father's causing problems but I can deal with him." Draco said, stripping off his clothes as he headed into the bathroom for a quick shower.

Once Draco was showered and dressed he returned to the bedroom, finding Hermione slipping her feet into a pair of red high heels. She was wearing an oriental style red dress with gold edging and delicate flower details, along with matching gold jewellery shaped like dragons.

"Pansy's going to hate you." He said, creeping up behind Hermione and wrapping his arms around her.

"Why?" Hermione asked bemused. Granted it had taken her and Pansy a while to be nice towards each other but they were now good friends, even more so now that Pansy was dating Harry.

"Because you're going to show up looking amazing and you'll totally outshine her." Draco said, running his hands over Hermione's silky dress.

"I'm sure she'll cope." Hermione smiled at the fact that Draco always made such a fuss of her and was constantly telling her how attractive she was. "Although I'm sure you're slightly biased."

"I'm sure I am, but every word I just said is true." Draco grinned, releasing Hermione from his hold.

Hermione grabbed her purse before Draco grabbed hold of her so they could apparate to Harry and Pansy's house. Hermione shut her eyes as the familiar feeling of apparition took hold of her, she only opened them once she was sure they had landed securely on Harry and Pansy's front porch.

Harry answered the door to the couple and after greeting them happily he told them to head for the front room. In the front room Draco and Hermione found an assortment of their friends, most of the group were former Slytherins and Gryffindors but there was a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff in the mix. Luna Lovegood was the Ravenclaw and Hannah Abbott the Hufflepuff, both women were dating Gryffindors in the group. Luna had just started dating Ron while Hannah was in a long term relationship with Neville Longbottom.

The years of bitter school rivalry was firmly behind the group and there were several inter house relationships among the couples present. Besides Draco and Hermione there were three more Gryffindor and Slytherin partnerships in the group. The longest of which was between Draco's good friend Blaise Zabini and Ginny Weasley, the couple had been together a few years before Hermione and Draco reconnected. Harry and Pansy had been together for eighteen months and had just moved in together, hence the large dinner party Pansy was throwing. The newest relationship was between Daphne Greengrass and Seamus Finnegan, the couple had only been together a few months but they already looked pretty smitten with each other.

Within minutes of entering the front room Draco and Hermione found themselves separated. Draco's friends, Blaise, Theo Nott and Gregory Goyle grabbed the blond to discuss an upcoming Quidditch match the four were planning on attending. Hermione meanwhile was stopped by Ginny and Daphne as they inquired about the wedding plans.

As Draco spent the evening relaxing with his friends he vowed not to worry about his father. Whether he found the money to buy him out or not Draco wasn't giving up the company without a fight.


	5. The Party

**A/N - Thanks for all the support for this story. This chapter is set the night of the party and chronicles the hours leading up to Lucius's murder. Enjoy!**

* * *

**The Party.**

Lucius Malfoy took a large gulp of his firewhisky, grimacing at the sheer number of people in the grounds of his family's Manor. Lucius wasn't a big fan of parties and could have done without the hassle of hosting one. He understood the value of throwing regular parties, they helped to prove that his change of heart after the war was genuine, but that didn't mean he had to like them. In Lucius's opinion the current party was far too large but he knew he wasn't exactly in a position to argue with Narcissa over the event.

Since finding out about his affair Narcissa had been cold and distant towards Lucius and he had spent most of the time wondering if their relationship would survive. It was only in the last few weeks that Narcissa had even begun speaking to him but the couple had spent a nice quiet Christmas together. These recent events had given Lucius hope his marriage would survive but he was aware that any mistake on his part would result in Narcissa leaving him.

The day after Narcissa had confronted him about his affair, Lucius had ended his extramarital relationship. His mistress had taken the news relatively well, Lucius had always made it clear that he wouldn't be leaving his wife and their fling would end one day. While the break-up was a clean one Lucius was ashamed to admit he had once again fallen into bed with his young mistress as they said their goodbyes. Lucius was in no doubt that if Narcissa found out about his newest slip she would definitely end their marriage, there was no way his wife would forgive him for sleeping with his mistress after promising her that he would end their affair.

Banishing thoughts of his infidelity, Lucius took another swig of his firewhisky before topping the glass up. Scanning the ever increasing crowds for his wife, Lucius finally spotted her standing with Draco and Hermione. Lucius stood watching his wife, son and son's fiancé for several minutes. He had been quite surprised when the couple arrived an hour ago that both Draco and Hermione had been rather pleasant to him, after recent events he expected a frostier reception from both of them.

In the last week and a bit Lucius had sent several owls to Hermione, reminding her the deadline for accepting his offer ran out tonight. Just before Christmas Lucius had also rejected an offer from Draco to buy him out of the company. While neither of them had so far spoken of those things Lucius planned on speaking with them both over the course of the night. If everything went according to his plan by the end of the night Lucius would have sold his share of the company to Draco and his son would no longer be engaged to a muggleborn witch.

After a few minutes of watching the trio Lucius headed over to Narcissa, Draco and Hermione. Slipping an arm round Narcissa's waist and pecking her on the cheek, he greeted the group. Lucius was disappointed when Narcissa visibly stiffened at his touch before subtly removing his arm from her waist. Lucius had hoped that no-one had noticed Narcissa's rebuff but a glance in Draco's direction showed his son had noticed the entire exchange.

Within seconds of his arrival Narcissa made up an excuse about checking on the drinks before hurriedly leaving. After his mother's abrupt departure Draco glared at his father, he then whispered something to Hermione that Lucius couldn't hear before turning and following after Narcissa.

After watching his wife and son leave Lucius turned back to Hermione, finding the witch watching his reaction carefully. "What?" He snapped.

"Nothing, I'm just marvelling at your people skills." Hermione said, turning to leave.

Lucius grabbed onto Hermione's wrist. "Oh no you don't, we need to talk."

"We have nothing to talk about." Hermione said, trying to remove her wrist from Lucius's firm grasp.

Lucius smirked at Hermione and keeping a firm hold of her wrist he led her into the quiet house. He waited until they were securely away from the festivities before letting Hermione go, she immediately grabbed her wrist and massaged it gently to take away the pain.

"What do you want, Lucius?" Hermione asked, still massaging her sore wrist.

"I just wanted to remind you that my offer expires in a few hours." Lucius said. "I would suggest you finally accept it."

"I don't think so." Hermione said. "I've told you before, I'm not going to end my relationship with Draco."

"If that's the case I suggest you enjoy tonight, because come tomorrow you will no longer be a part of Draco's life." Lucius said, with a wicked smirk.

"That's not going to happen, Lucius." Hermione said, still amazed that Lucius honestly thought that she and Draco could be so easily torn apart. "Whether you like it or not I'll be Draco's wife in six months' time."

"Six months?" Lucius questioned, surprised by the mention of a wedding date. He was under the impression that Draco and Hermione had made no solid plans regarding their wedding.

"Yes, six months." Hermione nodded, pleased to see Lucius looking so stunned . "We set the date a few weeks ago, we're getting married in June."

"No, this won't happen." Lucius said angrily, not bothered by the fact his voice was getting louder the angrier he got. "There is no way I'll allow the Malfoy family line to be tainted by a mudblood."

Hermione gasped at the insult and before she had time to think she raised her hand and slapped her future father-in-law. Lucius was taken by surprise by Hermione's actions so he had no time to react before her hand made direct contact with his cheek, the noise echoing loudly in the hallway.

"Bitch." Lucius hissed, still shocked that Hermione had hit him. He knew she had a wicked temper but he never for one minute considered that she would physically react to his hurtful words. "You'll marry Draco over my dead body."

"Don't tempt me Lucius." Hermione snarled. Glaring at the blond man one final time she pushed passed him, heading to re-join the party.

Lucius watched the retreating brunette witch before turning in the opposite direction, heading for the peace and quiet of his study. Shutting the door firmly behind him Lucius poured himself a generous glass of firewhisky, carrying the bottle to his desk he slumped down in his chair.

Lucius was regretting calling Hermione a mudblood, he had said it in the heat of the moment and was now rueing his rashness. After the war Lucius had genuinely had a change of heart on a lot of his old beliefs, regarding muggleborns as worthless was one opinion he had actually changed during the war. Despite these changes Lucius still couldn't forget the pride of coming from a long pureblood family line, and he wasn't prepared to watch Draco taint their family by marrying a muggleborn.

Lucius was also feeling guilty about his decision to split Draco and Hermione up. He actually liked Hermione and if she had been anything other than a muggleborn he would have fully supported her relationship with Draco. Lucius knew that Draco and Hermione genuinely loved each other but he was convinced that he was doing the right thing in making sure the family was kept pure.

Lucius was still brooding ten minutes later when he heard the study door opening, looking up he saw Draco enter the room. Lucius was initially wary of his son, fearing that Hermione had told him about their altercation. He relaxed slightly when he noticed that Draco didn't look angry, he was in little doubt that if Draco knew what he had just called his fiancé he would be fuming.

"Draco, do you want a drink?" Lucius asked, indicating the bottle of opened firewhisky on his desk."

"No." Draco shook his head. "I just want to know what you want."

"I don't understand." Lucius said. He wasn't sure if the few drinks he had drunk were making him slow or if his son was speaking in riddles.

"I want to know what you want for the company. I made you a very generous offer and you turned it down. What do you want for it?" Draco asked.

"Actually I was quite happy with your offer. I just wanted to make one amendment to the contract." Lucius opened his desk drawer and removed a thin contract from it. "I've already signed it. All you need to do is sign as well and the company is yours."

Lucius handed the contract to Draco, who immediately began reading the document. At first Draco thought the contract was identical to the one he had sent to his father a week or so ago, but then he found the amendment Lucius had spoken about. Draco read the amendment several times, not quite believing his father would stoop so low.

"You can't be serious." Draco said, still stunned by what he had read. "Surely you don't expect me to sign this."

"Why not, it seems perfectly reasonable to me." Lucius shrugged, taking a large swig of firewhisky before topping it up generously.

"Perfectly reasonable?" Draco shouted, his anger flaring in the face of his father's callous attitude. "You expect me to end my relationship with Hermione and never see or speak to her again. I don't call that reasonable."

"Well I do." Lucius said. "It's really all about priorities, I just hope you have yours sorted. You've worked hard for five years building the company into the huge success it is now."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Draco asked, vaguely aware that his father had finally acknowledged what he had done with the company. "I could have worked twenty five years at building up the company but Hermione would still come first. There's no way I'm giving her up just for half of the company."

"And there's no way I'm selling you my half of the company until you do the right thing and end your relationship with Hermione." Lucius snapped. "Don't be an idiot, Draco. Do the right thing and sign the contract."

Draco glared at his father before holding up the contract he still held in his hand. Keeping eye contact with his Lucius, Draco ripped the contract up into several pieces, throwing them angrily on his father's desk when he had finished.

"You can keep your company, I'm finished. I want nothing more to do with it or you." Draco snarled.

"You can't just walk away from the business, it's half yours." Lucius said, panicking slightly at his son's reaction.

"Not anymore. You can either buy me out or I can sell to someone else, but I'm done with the business." Draco said icily. "I'm also done with you. I'll tolerate you for mother's sake but our relationship is finished."

"I'm your father Draco, you can't deny that." Lucius shouted as Draco turned to leave the room.

"Yes I can. I no longer think of you as my father, Lucius." Draco glared at Lucius before leaving the study, slamming the door behind him.

Lucius snarled at Draco's use of his first name and threw his glass at the closed door, the crystal tumbler smashing all over the floor. Cursing loudly Lucius slumped back in his seat, spotting the torn up contract he swept it off his desk with another yell of frustration. He was beginning to think he had done everything wrong when it came to separating Draco from Hermione. It now looked that not only had he lost his son but the Malfoy family line would now no longer be pure.

Lucius sat in his office brooding and drinking for another hour or so. Remembering the party and wanting to keep his wife happy Lucius reluctantly left the quiet of his study, magically tidying up the broken glass as he passed the mess. Once outside he welcomed the fresh air but grimaced at the noise of the party.

Glancing round the party he found no sign of his wife, although with the enormous garden in full use it wasn't surprising that people were hard to find. Making his way through the crowds Lucius kept an eye open for Narcissa while he made polite small talk to the numerous people that approached him.

After ten minutes Lucius had still found no sign of Narcissa, he had however spotted his angry looking son. Draco was sitting next to one of the large round tables with a few of his friends and Lucius was surprised to notice he was still wearing a dark scowl, an obvious remainder of their run in. Standing partially hidden in the shadows of some nearby trees Lucius watched his son interact with his friends, despite their best efforts it seemed they were unable to remove the scowl from his face.

As Lucius watched Draco and his friends, Hermione appeared. She sat down on Draco's knee and whispered something in his ear, after a few minutes of his fiancé's presence Lucius noticed that a smile had appeared on Draco's face and he looked much happier. Lucius watched Draco and Hermione for a few minutes before turning his attention to the rest of the group, sneering as he noticed the dark haired wizard sitting next to Draco.

The sight of Harry Potter attending his parties was still something Lucius was getting used to, and if he was honest something he didn't want to get used to. After the big problem of Hermione being a muggleborn, Lucius's next biggest problem with her was her friends. As Hermione was such a big part of Draco's life their friends had all learnt to get along, meaning they all attended parties at the Manor. Lucius had reconciled himself to dealing with Gryffindors on a regular basis and while some he found he could actually tolerate Harry Potter wasn't one of those.

Leaving his son and his friends to enjoy the party Lucius headed back towards the house, where the main throng of the party was happening just outside the property. Helping himself to another firewhisky from the drinks table Lucius was just thinking about escaping back into the house again when he noticed Narcissa approaching him. Lucius smiled as he watched his wife expertly weave through the crowds, exchanging pleasantries with most people. His smile dropped however when Narcissa got nearer to him and he could see the cold glint in her eye, she was angry about something and it looked like he was the focus of her anger.

"Inside, now." Narcissa hissed as she passed Lucius, a fake smile still on her face for the sake of their guests.

Lucius casually followed Narcissa into the house, he knew anyone watching them wouldn't be able to notice the tension as both he and Narcissa were used to putting on a good poker face in public. Narcissa led Lucius into one of the smaller rooms in the back of the house, they rarely used the room but it wasn't obvious as most of the furniture was covered with a magical preservation spell, keeping the dust away.

"What's wrong?" Lucius asked, shutting the door behind him. He was wondering if she had spoken to either Draco or Hermione and had heard about his earlier arguments.

"What's wrong, is that _she_ is here." Narcissa said, emphasising the word she.

"Who?" Lucius asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Your little mistress, that's who." Narcissa said, working hard not to lose it and yell at her husband. She knew she was already speaking louder than normal but she couldn't seem to speak quietly when she was so angry.

"It's nothing to do with me, I didn't invite her." Lucius said hurriedly.

"I don't care whether you did or didn't invite her, I just want her gone. Now."

"How am I supposed to do that without it looking odd?" Lucius asked. "She's Draco's friend, it's expected that she'll be here."

"I don't care." Narcissa snapped, her voice slightly raised. "I want her gone. If you don't do it, I will."

"I'll try." Lucius sighed, wondering how he was going to accomplish what Narcissa wanted without raising suspicion.

"Don't just try, do it." Narcissa said sternly. "If I have to get rid of her, I promise you it won't be pleasant. Unless you want everyone to know your sordid little secret, I would hurry if I were you."

Lucius looked shocked at his wife, amazed that she seemed to be threatening to make his affair public knowledge. "You would seriously cause a scene?" He asked, certain his wife was bluffing.

"In a heartbeat." Narcissa said. "We both know that while it will be embarrassing for me in the short term, in the long term people's sympathies will be with me and you'll be nothing more than a common adulterer."

"You know, Narcissa it sounds like you're threatening me." Lucius said. He was beginning to think his wife would never forgive him for his affair and instead would hold it over him to get him to do whatever she wanted.

"It's not a threat, Lucius, It's a promise." Narcissa smiled sweetly at her husband. "I promise that if you don't get rid of your little plaything within the next ten minutes everyone will find out what you've been up to for the past few years."

Lucius gaped at his wife as she brushed past him and opened the door. "Ten minutes, Lucius." She called over her shoulder as she exited the room.

Lucius stood in the small room, trying to decide how best to approach his former lover. To be honest he hadn't seen her over the course of the night and despite her friendship with Draco he hadn't expected her to turn up at the party. When they ended their relationship Lucius had made it clear that Narcissa wouldn't tolerate her presence around the Manor and his lover had been more than happy with agreeing to keep her distance.

Sighing to himself Lucius left the room in search of his former mistress. He was hoping he could have a quiet word and she would leave peacefully, he didn't want to get nasty with her but knew that if he had to he would. Over the course of their relationship Lucius had actually came to care deeply for his lover and he didn't want to hurt her any more than he probably already had.

A few minutes of searching the crowds was all it took for Lucius to find his former mistress. He watched her with her boyfriend for several minutes, ignoring the pangs of jealously he felt whenever they touched. The minute her boyfriend left her side Lucius swooped in, casually moving behind her and pulling her into the shadows.

"You need to leave now." He whispered, trying to ignore the fact he could see down the front of her dress from the angle he was standing.

The moment his former mistress turned to look at him Lucius realised two things, first of all she looked slightly tipsy meaning she would be hard to reason with and wasn't likely to leave without a fuss. And secondly she looked absolutely stunning in her tight, revealing dress, meaning the likelihood of her leaving without him breaking his promise of fidelity to Narcissa and ravishing her was very unlikely.


	6. The Prime Suspects

**The Prime Suspects.**

New Year's Day found Lucius Malfoy's study awash with Auror's as the investigation into his death was in full flow. There were several Auror's already busy in the study when the Head Auror arrived, eager to see if any progress had been made.

"How are we getting along?" Bainbridge asked, entering the room.

Aiden Scott was the Auror that approached the boss, ready to fill him in on the progress that had been made. "Good, we're making solid progress."

"Have you found the murder weapon?" Bainbridge asked.

"Yes, It was a marble statue that stood on one of the cupboards." Aiden said, indicating where the statue had been found. "It's currently back at the Ministry undergoing tests."

"Are you sure it's the murder weapon?" Bainbridge inquired, he didn't want to waste valuable time and resources examining something that wasn't relevant.

"Yes." Aiden nodded. "There are microscopic hair and blood particles on it that belong to Lucius Malfoy. The statue also shows signs of recently being fixed using magic."

"Excellent." Bainbridge smiled softly. "I assume a magical residue test will be performed on the statue?"

The magical residue test was a fairly new procedure in the wizarding world. After the war everyone over seventeen was obliged to provide an example of their magic at the Ministry. With the samples the Auror department could easily discover who had performed certain spells as crime scenes. So far the test was proving rather effective at placing the culprits at crime scenes, meaning convictions were much easier to achieve.

"Of course, we're expecting the results some time tomorrow afternoon." Aiden said.

"Good. Do you have anything else?"

"Yes, come and see this." Aiden said, leading Bainbridge towards Lucius's desk.

On the desk were a few pieces of wrinkled parchment. It looked like the papers had been torn up and put back together using magic.

"What is it?" Bainbridge asked.

"It's a contract concerning Lucius Malfoy selling his half of the family business to his son. We found it torn up, scattered all over the floor behind his desk." Aiden explained. "It's actually being signed by Lucius but not Draco."

"I wonder why?" Bainbridge pondered why the contract was drawn up and then only one party had signed it.

"I'm guessing it has something to do with a rather unusual clause." Aiden pointed out the specific clause he was talking about. "I don't know Draco Malfoy personally but from what I do know about him I don't reckon he'd sign a contract that would mean the end of his relationship."

Bainbridge read the clause in surprise, it concerned Draco ending his relationship with Hermione and having nothing more to do with her.

"It could explain why the contract was torn up." Aiden offered his opinion.

"Maybe, I suppose we'll find out this afternoon when I speak to Draco." Bainbridge said. "Is there anything else before I head back to the office?"

"Yes. We checked out Lucius's wand to find out the last few spells he performed. The last two spells were performed during the party and we're fairly certain both were performed in here."

"What were the spells?" Bainbridge asked.

"The first spell repaired something." Aiden said, leading Bainbridge over to a side cupboard where he showed his boss a set of crystal tumblers and a nearly empty bottle of firewhisky. "One of the tumblers showed traces of being fixed by magic, it also contained traces of firewhisky. We also found minute traces of firewhisky splattered on the study door and the carpet in front of it."

"So it looks like Lucius or someone threw the glass at the door and he then cleaned it up using magic." Bainbridge said, coming to the same conclusion as his young Auror. "What about the other spell?"

"It was a contraception charm." Aiden informed his boss.

"How do you know the spell was performed in this room?"

"We found tiny traces of semen on the desk, it was tested and belonged to Lucius Malfoy." Aiden looked distinctly uncomfortable discussing such delicate matters with his boss.

"Was there anything to indicate the woman he was with?" Bainbridge asked.

"No." Aiden shook his head. "But surely it was his wife."

"Not necessarily." Bainbridge said, admiring Aiden's uncomplicated view on life. "It's something I can ask Narcissa Malfoy about later."

Aiden widened his eyes slightly at the thought of asking Narcissa Malfoy about her sex life with her husband. Aiden had only seen her briefly the previous night but she seemed like quite a formidable woman, one he wouldn't want to anger.

"I have to be getting back, let me know if you find anything else" Bainbridge said.

After giving Aiden a few more instructions Bainbridge flooed back to the Ministry, he had arranged to speak with Draco, Narcissa and Hermione in the afternoon and he had plenty of work to be getting on with until then.

* * *

...

* * *

Shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon an Auror informed Bainbridge his chief suspects had arrived. After finishing off the report he was working on, Bainbridge left his office and headed to the room where the three people he had arranged to interview were waiting.

Bainbridge walked into the small room, looking closely at the three people sitting in the room. There was a tinge of sadness in the atmosphere but Bainbridge noted that still no-one looked overly upset at Lucius's death.

"Thank you for coming in." Bainbridge said after greeting the trio. "I'll need to speak to you all individually."

"We expected that." Draco said. "We've been talking about last night and we now all know why we all argued with father. We're also pretty sure we know which order the arguments took place."

Bainbridge was shocked by how helpful the trio were being. He wasn't overly thrilled with the fact they had been speaking about events of the night before but he knew when he let them return home the previous night that there was a good chance they would discuss Lucius.

"That could be very helpful." Bainbridge said. "Why don't I start by speaking to the person who argued with Lucius first."

"That would be me." Hermione said, standing up.

"If you would come this way Miss Granger." Bainbridge said, gesturing to the door he had opened.

After informing the Auror who would be staying with Draco and Narcissa to get the Malfoy's a drink Bainbridge escorted Hermione to a nearby interrogation room. The room was already set up for the interviews, while Bainbridge was doing the actual interviews solo the conversation was being monitored and recorded by two of his team in an adjoining room.

Bainbridge waited until both he and Hermione were seated before he began the questioning. "First of all why don't you tell me what sort of relationship you had with Lucius Malfoy."

"We tolerated each other." Hermione said honestly. She, Draco and Narcissa had spoken about the interviews and had decided that total honesty was the best way to approach things. "I knew he wasn't keen on my relationship with Draco but he never really bothered to make a fuss until three months ago."

"Why three months ago?"

"Draco and I got engaged." Hermione said.

"What happened with Lucius?" Bainbridge asked.

"He came to my office and made me an offer." Hermione said, disgust evident in her voice as she spoke about the offer Lucius had made her. "Lucius told me that if I called off my engagement to Draco he would buy me a house somewhere, where he would set me up as Draco's mistress."

"So Lucius was quite happy for your relationship with Draco to continue, as long as you didn't marry him?" Bainbridge questioned, checking he had understood correctly.

"Exactly." Hermione nodded. "He wanted Draco to marry a pure blood witch and produce a pure blood heir but he had no objection to his son still sleeping with me on the side."

"What was your reaction to his offer?"

"I told him where to stick it." Hermione said. "We argued for a bit, then he left."

"Was this the reason for your fight with him last night?" Bainbridge asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yes, for the last week he's been sending me owls reminding me his offer expired at midnight."

"The offer had an expiry date?" Bainbridge questioned.

"Lucius gave me to the end of the year to accept his offer. If I didn't accept the offer he reckoned he could get Draco to leave me."

"Did you believe him?" Bainbridge asked, wondering if Hermione had thought that she would lose her fiancé.

"No. I know nothing he could do would separate Draco and I." Hermione replied. "Although now I know exactly how he intended to try and do that."

"The contract for the business." Bainbridge said and Hermione nodded. "Did you know about the contract before last night?"

"No." Hermione shook her head. "Last month Draco mentioned his father was being difficult but I had no idea he was thinking of buying him out until we all spoke this morning."

"I take it that was what Draco was arguing with his father over." Bainbridge stated, which Hermione confirmed with a nod. "I also take it you know why Narcissa was arguing with her husband."

"Yes, but that's for her to tell you about." Hermione said.

"Fair enough." Bainbridge nodded. "Let's get back to the night of the party. Tell me what happened with Lucius."

"Draco and I had been at the Manor for just over an hour when Lucius approached us, we were talking with Narcissa at the time. He'd only just arrived when Narcissa made an excuse to leave, Draco was worried about her so he followed her."

"Why was Draco worried about his mother?" Bainbridge interrupted.

"She hasn't been herself lately. It was pretty obvious Narcissa and Lucius were having problems, he wanted to check she was alright." Hermione explained, not going into too much detail about Narcissa's private life.

"So when Narcissa and Draco left, you and Lucius were alone. What happened?"

"He dragged me into the Manor where he reminded me once again that his offer was close to expiring. I refused his offer, again, and we argued." Hermione said, hesitating slightly before she told the next bit. "During the argument he called me a mudblood so I slapped him."

"You physically assaulted him?" Bainbridge asked. It would seem that Hermione's more violent tendencies were still evident if she was provoked.

"It was one slap, which he thoroughly deserved." Hermione said, defending herself.

"What happened after the slap?" Bainbridge asked.

"He called me a bitch and threatened to stop the wedding." Hermione said. "I left just after that."

"So that was the last time you saw him alive?"

"No, I saw him outside later on but I didn't speak to him." Hermione said.

"Who did you spend the rest of the night with?" Bainbridge asked, even though he was positive she would say her fiancé.

"Draco mainly. Although I also spent time with some of my other friends."

"Thank you for your help." Bainbridge said, standing up to indicate the end of the interview.

Hermione also stood up and the pair left the room, returning to the room where Draco and Narcissa were sitting. Hermione walked over and settled herself next to Narcissa while Draco stood up, offering to be interviewed next. Bainbridge assumed that Draco was the next person to argue with his father so he agreed, leading him to the same interview room in which he had just spoken with his fiancé.

"I assume you were the next person to argue with your father." Bainbridge said, settling down opposite Draco.

"Yes. From the conversation I had with Hermione and my mother I think my argument took place about fifteen to twenty minutes after the one he had with Hermione."

"How did you work that out?" Bainbridge asked.

"After Hermione had argued with father she returned to the party and found me almost immediately." Draco said. "I was speaking with a few friends of ours when she joined us. While Hermione was busy talking with our friends I used the opportunity to go and find my father so I could speak to him."

"Why did you want to speak to him?" Bainbridge questioned.

"A few days ago I made him an official offer to buy his half of the company. He refused and I wanted to know why." Draco explained.

"Fair enough." Bainbridge nodded. "Where did you find your father?"

"In his study, he was sitting at his desk drinking." Draco said. "I asked him about the offer I had made. He said he had wanted to make an amendment to the original offer. He then produced a contract that he had already signed and was just waiting for my signature."

"Did you sign it?" Bainbridge asked. Despite already knowing the answer he wanted to hear about it in Draco's own words.

"No, I ripped it up. I'm sure if you searched my father's study you would find the remains somewhere." Draco said.

"Why didn't you sign it?" Bainbridge carried on the questioning, not mentioning that they had already found the contract.

"He wanted me to end my relationship with Hermione." Draco explained, a flash of anger evident in his grey eyes. "Father made it quite clear that he would only sell me the company if Hermione was no longer a part of my life."

"How did you react to that?" Bainbridge questioned, wondering if the blond man in front of him would have been able to control his temper around his father.

"I told him that Hermione was more important than the company." Draco said. "I also told him that I was leaving the company, I wanted no contact with anything associated to that man."

"How did he take that?"

"He was angry." Draco said, smirking slightly at the memory. "Although he was worse once I told him that I wanted nothing more to do with him. I made it clear that I no longer considered him my father and I would only tolerate him for mother's sake."

"What happened next?" Bainbridge questioned. Wondering exactly how angry Lucius had been.

"I left the study." Draco said. "Although the door had barely shut when I heard something crash into it. My guess is father threw his drink after I left, it was a habit of his to throw things when he didn't get his way."

"How much of this have you told your mother and fiancé?" Bainbridge asked. "And how much did they know before the party?"

"I've told them everything that happened." Draco said with a shrug. "As for what they knew before the party, not much. Hermione knew that father had been causing problems recently but I hadn't told anyone about wanting to buy father out of the company."

"How much did you know of Hermione's disagreement with your father?" Bainbridge was intrigued to notice that Draco looked genuinely furious at the mention of Hermione and Lucius's argument.

"Until this morning I knew nothing." Draco said in a hard voice. Bainbridge couldn't tell if he was angry at his father for making the offer or at Hermione for not informing him sooner. "If I'd known about his sordid offer sooner Hermione and I wouldn't have been at the Manor last night. I would have already cut off contact with him."

"Why didn't Hermione tell you about Lucius's offer when he first made it?" Bainbridge asked.

"Shouldn't you have asked her that?" Draco questioned.

Bainbridge merely shrugged and waited for an answer.

"She didn't tell me because she knew exactly how I would react and she didn't want to be responsible for my estrangement from my father." Draco explained. "I don't like that she didn't tell me but I understand it."

"I take it you also know the details of the argument between your parents." Bainbridge said, getting ready to end the interview.

"Yes." Draco snarled, his fury very evident.

Bainbridge raised an eyebrow at the blond's anger. It seemed that when it came to his fiancé and mother he was very protective and easily riled up. At the minute Draco was rapidly becoming his prime suspect, but first he needed to speak with Narcissa Malfoy and hear her story.

"I've just got one more question." Bainbridge said. "After you argued with your father did you see him again and who did you spend the rest of the night with?"

"No, I didn't see my father after I left his study." Draco said. "As for the rest of the night I was with Hermione and my friends."

Bainbridge ended the interview and after escorting Draco back to his fiancé and mother Bainbridge returned to the room for a third time, this time he was accompanied by Narcissa Malfoy. Up close Bainbridge had noticed that the witch was using several glamour charms on her face, indicating she was suffering far more than she wanted people to see.

"Can I get you anything? A drink, perhaps?" Bainbridge asked as a shaky Narcissa sat down. He felt immensely sorry for the woman in front of his, as soon as she had left the safe companionship of her son and his fiancé she seemed distinctly more vulnerable.

"No, thank you." Narcissa shook her head gently. "I would just rather get this over with."

"Of course." Bainbridge said sympathetically. "Why were you and your husband arguing last night?"

Narcissa sighed sadly, visibly steeling herself to speak to the Auror in front of her. "A few months ago I discovered my husband was having an affair. He promised to end the affair and we were working through it. Last night I saw her at the party. I found Lucius and told him to get rid of her."

"The woman he had been having an affair with had the gall to show up at your party?" Bainbridge asked, not quite believing that anyone could be so brazen.

"Yes." Narcissa nodded. "She's actually friends with Draco and Hermione, so I'm guessing the invite actually came from them rather than Lucius. Although not for one minute did I expect her to actually show up."

Bainbridge looked surprised when he realised just how young Lucius's mistress seemed to be. Quickly composing himself he prepared to ask Narcissa some potentially hurtful questions.

"So what was the actual argument about?" Bainbridge asked. "Did he refuse to get rid of her?"

"I'm not sure I would actually call it an argument. When I first spoke to him I was angry and probably shouted a bit." Narcissa said. "He was actually reluctant to get rid of her, he argued that it would look suspicious if he asked one of Draco's friends to leave."

"Who won the argument?" Bainbridge questioned, although he was fairly certain the woman in front of him would have gotten her own way.

"Me, I think. I made it clear that if Lucius didn't get rid of her I would, and I wouldn't have been subtle about it." Narcissa said in a firm voice. "When I left I gave him ten minutes to get rid of her. I never saw her again so I assumed that Lucius had made her leave."

"You never asked him?"

"I didn't actually see him again." Narcissa said with a touch of sadness. It was obvious that despite his infidelity that Narcissa had actually loved her husband. "I was heading inside to look for him just before midnight when I bumped into Sylvia Parkinson, she was heading to use the bathroom so she offered to see if Lucius was in his study."

"Where exactly did your disagreement with Lucius take place?" Bainbridge asked. He was fairly sure that it hadn't been Narcissa that Lucius had been intimate with in his study.

"One of the back rooms in the Manor. I'm not sure which one, I just went into the first door I could find."

"So you weren't in the study with your husband?"

"No. Why?" Narcissa asked, wondering where the questions were heading.

Bainbridge was quiet for a few minutes but he eventually decided he would be honest with Narcissa, she deserved to know the truth. "The last spell your husband cast was a contraception charm. We also found traces in the study that indicated that Lucius was involved in some form of sexual act in his study."

Narcissa went very pale and buried her head in her hands. "He promised me it was over." She whispered so quietly that Bainbridge barely heard her.

"I'm sorry." Bainbridge said. "I had to ask if it was you he was with."

"I understand." Narcissa said, raising her head. Bainbridge could see the tears in her eyes and suspected that if the interview went on much longer he would have a weeping woman on his hands.

"I have one more question and then you can go." Bainbridge offered Narcissa a small smile. "Who was the woman your husband was having an affair with?"

"Ginny Weasley."


	7. The Mistress

**The Mistress.**

A nervous looking Ginny Weasley sat alone in an interrogation room in the Auror department. As she sat tapping her fingers on the wooden table she had no idea that she was being watched by a couple of Aurors from the next room via a two way mirror.

Despite knowing it was never going to happen Ginny had been hoping that her name wouldn't come up during the investigation into Lucius's death, however late the previous afternoon she had received an owl summoning her to the Ministry for an interview. As soon as she realised she would be involved in the investigation Ginny immediately hoped that she could get in and out of the Ministry without being seen.

Unfortunately for Ginny she was met in the Atrium by an Auror and when he led her through the Auror department to the interrogation room her presence was met by curious glances. What was worse was the fact that Ron and Harry were in the department at the time and as she entered the interrogation room Ginny distinctly heard her brother asking about why she was being interviewed.

Ginny knew that by the time she left the room both Ron and Harry would know about her involvement with Lucius and probably by the end of the day the whole Ministry would know as well. Of course the gossip wouldn't stop at the Ministry and Ginny was acutely aware that within a few days her affair with Lucius would be public knowledge, meaning she would have to face the wrath of her family.

Dealing with her family was potentially the part of all this Ginny was dreading the most. She knew her parents would be ashamed of her for having an affair with a married man but she knew it would be ten times worse because the man was Lucius Malfoy. Despite the war changing many things there had still a noticeable frosty atmosphere between Lucius and her family on the rare occasions they came into contact.

The sound of the door opening drew Ginny's attention back to the present. Ginny recognised the middle aged man who entered the room from the papers, it was the Head Auror Calvin Bainbridge. Bainbridge took a seat opposite Ginny and made himself comfortable before speaking.

"Thank you for coming in Miss Weasley. Hopefully this won't take long." Bainbridge studied the nervous looking woman as he spoke. At the minute he wasn't sure if she was nervous about the interview or if there was another reason for her nerves. "I assume you know why we asked to see you?"

"I'm assuming it has something to do with the fact that until recently I was having an affair with Lucius Malfoy." Ginny said, sounding surprisingly calm despite her nervous demeanour.

Bainbridge nodded, pleased that Ginny wasn't going to try denying her relationship with the dead man. "How long had did the affair last?"

"About two years, give or take a few months." Ginny said.

"When did it end?" Bainbridge asked.

"A couple of months ago." Ginny said. "Narcissa found out about us."

"Do you know how Mrs Malfoy discovered your affair?"

"No, Lucius didn't know she found out." Ginny shrugged.

"It was Lucius Malfoy that ended the affair." Bainbridge said and Ginny confirmed with a nod. "How did you take that?"

"I wasn't upset or angry if that's what you're implying." Ginny said, annoyed by the accusatory tone in the Auror's voice. "I admit I was disappointed but I always knew that our relationship would end one day."

"So you didn't harbour any hopes that Lucius would leave his wife for you?"

Ginny laughed and shook her head. "No. Right from the beginning we knew that it was a bit of fun. Lucius leaving Narcissa was never an option. Our relationship wasn't serious."

"Two years seems pretty serious to me." Bainbridge commented.

"Not to the point where he would leave his wife." Ginny stated.

"So if this affair wasn't serious and he wasn't going to leave his wife for you, why continue it for so long?" Bainbridge asked.

"The sex was good." Ginny replied flippantly, earning a glare from the Auror sitting opposite her. "As well as the great sex, we got to know each other better and we genuinely enjoyed spending time together. They're the reasons we carried on seeing each other despite knowing that one day it would end."

"If your affair was over and you knew that Mrs Malfoy was aware of it, why did you attend the party on New Year's Eve?" Bainbridge asked, asking the question that had been bugging him since Narcissa revealed her husband's mistress had shown up at the party.

"I didn't want to but my boyfriend and I are friends with Draco and Hermione, they expected us to show up." Ginny sighed. "I tried to find an excuse not to go but in the end Blaise insisted that I went."

"I still don't get it." Bainbridge shook his head. "Why didn't you pretend to be ill or something."

"I tried that but Blaise knows me too well and saw through it." Ginny admitted. "In the end I couldn't find a way not to go without admitting my affair to Blaise."

"Why didn't you do that?" Bainbridge asked. "Surely it was better than going to the home of the man you were sleeping with, especially once you knew that Narcissa was aware of your relationship with her husband."

"I didn't want to hurt Blaise by telling him. Lucius and I were finished so I saw no point hurting Blaise unnecessarily." Ginny said. "Besides I was planning on staying as far away from Narcissa as possible and leaving as soon as I could."

"What went wrong?" Bainbridge asked. "From the evidence we have it was nearly eleven before Mrs Malfoy spotted you. Why hadn't you already left?"

"Blaise was keeping a close eye on me, making sure I didn't run off." Ginny said, clearly annoyed with her boyfriend's overprotective behaviour.

"Did you know Mrs Malfoy had seen you?" Bainbridge questioned.

"Not until Lucius approached me." Ginny admitted. "I thought I was doing a good job avoiding them both but then Blaise left me alone for a minute and Lucius appeared behind me."

"What did Lucius say when he approached you?"

"He told me to leave." Bainbridge noticed the brief flicker of hurt that flitted over the redhead's face as she admitted her former lover had wanted rid of her.

"Did you?" Bainbridge asked.

Ginny shook her head sheepishly. "No, I'd had a bit to drink by that point and I took offence at Lucius ordering me around. I told him I wasn't leaving."

"How did he react?" Bainbridge asked.

"He wasn't happy." Ginny admitted. "After checking no-one was watching us he took me into the house where we proceeded to argue for a bit."

"Did he take you into his study?" Bainbridge asked.

"Yes. How do you know that?" Ginny asked, suddenly looking worried.

"It's my job to ask the questions, Miss Weasley." Bainbridge responded, not answering the redhead's question. "Did you have sex with him while you were in the study?"

Ginny blushed bright red at the straightforward question but eventually confirmed the Auror's question with a tiny nod. "It was a one off we didn't mean for it to happen."

"What happened after that?" Bainbridge asked.

"I left." Ginny said.

"How was Lucius when you left?"

"Not good." Ginny said softly. "He promised Narcissa he would be faithful and he was annoyed that he had betrayed her again."

"So he was perfectly fine when you left the study?" Bainbridge asked. He was beginning to form his own theory on what had happened to Lucius and everything Ginny was telling him fit perfectly with his idea.

"Yes, he was alive." Ginny said.

"Did you go straight home after leaving the study?" Bainbridge questioned.

"Yes, I ran into Blaise practically straight away and told him I was feeling ill so I was going home whether he liked it or not." Ginny told the Auror. "I flooed home using one of the rooms at the back of the house, Blaise arrived back home a few minutes later as he was worried about me."

"Does your boyfriend know of your affair?" Bainbridge asked, wondering how she had explained the summons to the Ministry.

"Yes." Ginny nodded sadly. "I told him that night after he followed me home. He knew something had been wrong and he kept questioning me until I admitted why I hadn't wanted to attend the party."

"One final question and then you can go." Bainbridge told the redhead. "When you left Lucius's study did you see anyone else in the vicinity?"

"No." Ginny shook her head. "But I wasn't really paying attention, I just wanted to go home."

"Thank you Miss Weasley, you may leave. We'll be in touch if we need to speak to you further, but I highly doubt that." Bainbridge got up and showed Ginny to the door.

As Bainbridge headed in the direction of his office Ginny quickly darted through the department, hoping to avoid her brother and his best friend. Ginny had reached the corridor outside the Auror department and was just about to head for the lift when her brother suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Tell me it's not true, Gin." Ron pleaded with his little sister, a look of disgust etched onto his features.

"What?" Ginny asked, attempting to bluff her way out of the situation.

"You know what." Ron spat. "Tell me there's been a mistake and that you weren't having an affair with Lucius Malfoy."

"I can't Ron." Ginny shook her head gently. "It's true."

"What the hell were you thinking, Gin?" Ron asked angrily, making an effort not to shout and draw any more attention to the arguing siblings. "He was old enough to be your father, not to mention the fact he was a bloody Death Eater."

"I know how old he was." Ginny hissed. "And as for the fact he was a Death Eater I wouldn't get too wrapped up in throwing allegations around if I was you, after all your best friends marrying a Death Eater."

"That's not the same and you know it." Ron said with a shake of his head. "Malfoy didn't have much of a choice, his father did and Lucius willingly chose the dark side."

"That was in the past." Ginny said, feeling the need to defend her former lover. "He'd changed after the war."

Ron snorted at his sister's words, while he believed that Draco and Narcissa had genuinely changed after the war he was firmly of the belief that Lucius did what he had to do to stay out of Azkaban and any change on his part wasn't at all genuine.

"I've got to go." Ginny said, walking away from her brother. "See you later, Ron."

"Yeah, I'll see you when you have to explain to mum and dad how you ended up in bed with the enemy." Ron shouted after the retreating back of Ginny.

Ginny ignored her brother's words as she rushed into the elevator and returned to the Atrium. As she walked through the Atrium towards the fireplaces Ginny felt the whole place was staring at her but whenever she glanced around no-one seemed to be giving her a second look. Deciding she was getting paranoid Ginny rushed the final few steps to the fireplaces and took her place in the small queue waiting to use them.

Arriving home a few minutes later Ginny spotted Blaise sitting in the front room of their flat as she stepped from the emerald flames.

"How did it go?" Blaise asked, not quite able to look his girlfriend in the eye after recent events.

"Fine." Ginny sighed, noticing that Blaise couldn't bear to look at her. "I'm going for a lie down."

Ginny retreated into their bedroom and curled up on the large bed. She knew it was unlikely her relationship with Blaise would survive the aftermath of her affair, although so far neither one of them had actually gotten round to ending their relationship. As if her affair wasn't enough for the couple to deal with Blaise had recently admitted that he had always known that Ginny's real affections lay with his best friend for the first few years of their relationship.

Ginny could distinctly remember when she fell for Draco Malfoy, it was the Yule Ball in her third year and the blond Slytherin had caught her eye for some reason. Up until that point Ginny had had little contact with Draco and practically everything she knew about him was as a result of listening to Harry, Ron and Hermione moaning about him. Ginny spent most of the night watching Draco interact with his friends and she couldn't help but think that her brother and his friends were wrong about him and there was more to him than the cruel, cold person they made him out to be.

From the night of the Yule Ball Ginny's crush on Draco quickly snowballed and by the end of the year she was practically obsessed with the blond Slytherin. For the next two years Ginny tried desperately to get Draco to notice her, without any success. Despite constantly hovering around him and his group of friends she was invisible to the boy she so desired.

While Draco failed to notice the pretty redhead hanging around his friend Blaise didn't and by the end of Ginny's fifth year he was regularly flirting with her. Ginny was flattered by Blaise's attention but kept refusing when he asked her out as she was still interested in Draco. Ginny didn't actually agree to go out with him until the beginning of her sixth year.

Sixth year was an entirely different experience at Hogwarts, with the war beginning to rage around them. Ginny had initially accepted Blaise's offer of a date as a way to take her mind off her family and what could be happening to them. It was only when she started dating Blaise that she realised it was an ideal way to get near to Draco as he was such good friends with Blaise.

Because of her relationship with Blaise, Ginny actually became good friends with Draco, which did little to stop her massive crush on him. By the end of the school year and the war she was slightly ashamed that she was still involved with Blaise so she could stay in Draco's life. After the war Ginny seriously debated ending her relationship with Blaise but she genuinely liked him and wasn't ready to give up on Draco so she continued seeing him throughout her last year of school.

By the time she had finished school Ginny had accepted that Draco wasn't interested in her in a romantic way but it didn't quite dispel her crush on the blond. Even moving in with Blaise and vowing to concentrate on her relationship with him didn't stop Ginny fantasising over Draco whenever she saw him.

Ginny vowed to forget about Draco for good as he embarked on a relationship with Hermione but it still took a while for her to let the idea of him go. It was actually Ginny realising how much Draco loved Hermione that made it easier to forget about him. Ironically it was also this event that pushed her into the arms of his father.

Ginny and Blaise were attending one of Narcissa's charity dinners at the Manor when Ginny had gone outside for some fresh air. She had accidently came across Draco and Hermione in the garden and couldn't resist listening to the couple's conversation. Draco had been asking Hermione to move in with him and after witnessing the affection between the couple Ginny had wandered off further down the garden, finally realising that her and Draco were never going to happen.

Ginny had settled in a small gazebo to think when Lucius had suddenly appeared, looking for some peace and quiet. Lucius had initially told Ginny to get lost and when she had refused he settled down next to her and even offered her a drink of the firewhisky he had snuck out of the house. Ginny had accepted the offer and the two had sat in silence, drinking ample amounts of Lucius's best firewhisky.

Ginny wasn't sure if it was because of the drink but as she was sitting she started looking at Lucius in a different light. Despite him being in his late forties Lucius was still an attractive man and Ginny could see that Draco had inherited a lot of his features from his father. After half an hour or so of eyeing up Lucius, Ginny had leant over and kissed the former Death Eater.

Lucius tried to stop Ginny's advances at first but the redhead was insistent and the fact an attractive young woman was practically throwing herself at him broke Lucius's will power. The sex had been fast and furious and when they had finished both agreed that it was a one off and wouldn't be happening again.

Unfortunately the charity dinner was the first of a whole host of events that Ginny and Lucius found themselves attending in the following few months. As much as they tried to avoid each other neither could forget their encounter and sometime over the course of every event they found themselves alone, although someone always seemed to interrupt them before they did anything.

The next time anything actually happened had been at the Malfoy's New Year's Eve party two years ago. After spending the previous month and a half dancing around each other Ginny had been certain that something would happen with the older wizard so she had worn her sexiest dress especially for the occasion. When Lucius had casually approached her and quietly told her to go to his study in ten minutes Ginny had eagerly gone to the meeting.

After a passionate encounter on Lucius's desk neither brushed it off as a mistake, instead arranging to meet the following week. What followed was the most passion filled months of Ginny's life as her affair with Lucius carried on at full speed. They would regularly meet up at expensive hotels and various properties owned by Malfoy Holdings.

The initial meetings between the couple were purely sexual and few words were exchanged. Gradually they spoke more often, getting to know each other a bit before falling into bed. By the time the affair was a year old their meetings had changed from quick hour meetings which consisted of sex only to long afternoons spent lying in bed talking and making love.

After they'd been seeing each other for about a year Lucius would often invite Ginny to go with him whenever he need to go away on business for the weekend. While Lucius conducted his business Ginny would remain back at the hotel or wherever they were staying but for the rest of the weekend Lucius would take her out and make a fuss of her. Ginny loved weekends like these as she revelled in the luxury Lucius could afford to shower her with, she also enjoyed the fact they could behave like any normal couple.

Ginny had only told Bainbridge a half truth when he asked about her relationship with Lucius. While it was true that she never expected Lucius to leave his wife and had always known their affair had an expiry date it wasn't as casual as she made it out. Sometime over the course of the affair Ginny had fallen head over heels in love with Lucius and while at the time she didn't know if Lucius had been in love with her she did know that he had genuinely cared about her.

Just before Narcissa discovered their relationship Ginny and Lucius had spent the weekend in Scotland, Lucius had been conducting a business deal and she had gone along to keep him company the rest of the time. The weekend had been perfect and a few times Ginny thought that Lucius was going to say he loved her but at the last minute he always faltered and ended up saying something else instead. While Ginny would have loved to hear him say those three little words she was happy for what she did have from him.

When Lucius had shown up at her flat the next day she had instantly known something was wrong, they decided early on not to meet in the flat as Blaise might have caught them. When Lucius explained about Narcissa knowing about them and that they would have to end their relationship Ginny had been understanding, despite her heart breaking. Unsurprisingly Ginny and Lucius had ended up in bed as they said goodbye, surprisingly Lucius finally admitted he loved Ginny minutes before he walked out of her life.

Despite their recent encounter at the New Year's Eve party it was their final encounter during which Lucius professed his love that was firmly in Ginny's mind as she lay on her bed. Thinking about the past caused the tears to flow as she mourned for the man she had lost and the man she was about to lose.


	8. The Arrest

**The Arrest.**

Bainbridge sat at his desk, several stacks of papers littering the wooden surface as he worked on proving his theory and catching Lucius Malfoy's killer. The previous day's interviews with Draco, Hermione and Narcissa had left the Auror with a solid theory about what had happened and his interview with Ginny earlier that morning had only strengthened his views.

Using the information he had gained Bainbridge had decided the most likely scenario would be someone witnessing Lucius's interaction with Ginny and confronting him. Bainbridge was confident that if it had been Hermione who had been the witness that the witch wouldn't have reacted angrily enough to hit him. His next suspect was Narcissa, and while Bainbridge knew the witch would have been devastated he just couldn't imagine her ever striking her husband. After ruling out Narcissa and Hermione Bainbridge was left with one final suspect, Draco. Bainbridge knew from the blond's reactions during his interview that he was angry with his father's infidelity. If he'd actually caught his father in the act Bainbridge had little doubt that Draco could easily have reacted badly enough to strike him and accidently kill him.

Despite being confident in his theory Bainbridge was still working on proving it. After arguing with his father Draco had apparently spent the rest of the night with Hermione and their friends. Bainbridge had looked at the long list of Draco and Hermione's friends and was confident that there were enough people in the group that Draco could have slipped off to the Manor without anyone even noticing he was gone.

With the motive settled and the fact he could cast serious doubt over whether Draco was constantly in the presence of his friends Bainbridge was starting to build a solid case. All he needed now were the results of the magical residue test on the murder weapon and if they confirmed his theory he would be off to make an arrest.

Bainbridge was still solidly working on the case half an hour later when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." He called, never looking up from his paperwork.

Aiden Scott poked his head round the corner of his bosses door. "We've got the results of the magical residue test on the murder weapon."

Bainbridge looked up from his paperwork with a smile. "Let's guess the spell work was conducted by Draco Malfoy."

"No." Aiden shook his head as he entered the office fully. "The statue was fixed by Blaise Zabini."

"Zabini, I've heard that name somewhere." Bainbridge muttered, annoyed that his theory had just been blown out of the water.

"He's one of Draco Malfoy's best friends." Aiden said. "He's also Ginny Weasley's boyfriend."

Bainbridge nodded, spotting his mistake. He had been assuming the killer was more associated with Lucius and was angry at his betrayal of his wife, he had never considered that it could be someone angry at his involvement with the Weasley girl. His theory about Draco would still fit perfectly with Blaise, ironically it would actually work better as he wouldn't have dozens of people swearing that he was with them at the time of the murder.

"Go and bring him in." Bainbridge said. "Take another couple of Aurors with you. I don't really anticipate any trouble but it's better to be safe."

"Yes sir." Aiden said, handing Bainbridge confirmation of the test results before he left to arrest their killer.

* * *

...

* * *

Bainbridge stood watching Blaise Zabini through the one way mirror system in the interrogation rooms. He had put up no fight when he was arrested and had caused no problems as he had been settled into the interrogation room to await interview. So far he was proving a simple catch, Bainbridge only hoped the interview went as smoothly so they could wrap the case up.

Deciding it was time to start the interview Bainbridge headed for the interrogation room where Blaise was sitting. As he entered the room Blaise looked up at him but still seemed perfectly calm as Bainbridge settled into the seat opposite him.

"Mr Zabini, I take it you understand what you're doing here and are fully aware of the charges we expect to bring against you?" Bainbridge asked.

"Yes." Blaise nodded.

"Before we begin I must ask if you want legal representation." Bainbridge said. Blaise had already refused to have a lawyer present but legally the Auror had to double check before starting the interview.

"No, I'm fine." Blaise said. "I'm planning on telling you exactly what happened so there's no need to complicate matters."

"Really?" Bainbridge was shocked by Blaise's straightforwardness. "What did happen?"

"I killed Lucius." Blaise said calmly. "I didn't intend to but I lost my temper and lashed out."

Bainbridge was slightly taken aback by how quickly Blaise confessed, in all his years as an Auror he had never had anyone confess so quickly. "Let's go back to the beginning. Why were you in Lucius's study?"

"To confront him over his affair with Ginny."

"You knew he was having an affair with your girlfriend?" Bainbridge asked, he was under the impression that Blaise hadn't known of the affair before Ginny told him later that night.

"Not until that night." Blaise said.

"How did you discover the affair?" Bainbridge asked.

"During the party I'd left Ginny alone and went to get some drinks. She'd being acting odd all night so while I was getting the drinks I turned round to check on her. When I did I spotted her talking with Lucius, it looked pretty heated so when he grabbed her and took her inside I went after them."

"Did you go after them because you suspected something was going on or was there another reason you followed them?" Bainbridge questioned.

"I was worried about her." Blaise admitted. "As far as I knew, her and Lucius didn't really have a problem with each other but I know there's bad blood between the two families. I just wanted to check that Lucius wasn't treating her badly because of who she is."

"So what happened when you followed them?" Bainbridge asked, having a pretty good idea of what Blaise had discovered.

"Because I was so far away it took a while to make my way over to the Manor and go inside. Once inside I looked in the nearby rooms but couldn't find them. I wandered deeper into the Manor, when I heard it." Blaise said, getting quieter as he spoke more.

"Heard what?"

"The moaning." Blaise said, looking quite pained as he relived his discovery. "I've been with Ginny long enough to know what she sounds like during sex."

"What did you do?" Bainbridge asked. "Did you confront them?"

"No." Blaise shook his head. "Even though the noises were coming from Lucius's study I couldn't quite believe that Ginny was actually with him. I stood outside the study listening and it became clear that she was actually with Lucius."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. I was frozen to the spot and I just stood listening to them." Blaise said quietly. "When they were finished I heard them say goodbye and heard someone approaching the door. I wasn't ready to confront Ginny so I turned and left before she emerged."

"So how did you end up back in the study with Lucius?" Bainbridge asked.

"A few minutes after I left the Manor, Ginny appeared. She said she was feeling ill so was going home. I decided to go home as well and speak to her." Blaise said. "I found Draco and Hermione and explained about Ginny going home, I also made my excuses and left."

"You left the Manor?" Bainbridge was bemused. "Why did you come back?"

"I meant I left the party." Blaise explained. "I didn't want to apparate home in case I splinched myself so I went back into the Manor to use one of the fireplaces. I was passing the corridor where Lucius's study is located and on the spur of the moment I headed for his study in case he was still there. I'm still not sure what I hoped to achieve to by speaking with him."

"What happened when you entered the study?" Bainbridge asked, eager to get to the actual murder.

"He was drinking, I don't think he even knew I was there until I spoke." Blaise said. "I asked him about Ginny and what I had heard. He then proceeded to tell me exactly how long he had been sleeping with my girlfriend. He was pretty drunk by then and he descended into taunting me about how I couldn't keep Ginny satisfied and how much better in bed he was than me, according to Ginny."

"So you snapped and hit him?" Bainbridge asked.

"Yes. He was just going on and on about Ginny and what they had done together and how much of loser I was. I just lost it and picked up a statue from the cupboard." Blaise spoke in a monotone, clearly lost in his memories. "Before I knew it I had hit him and he was on the floor, not moving."

"What did you do then?" Bainbridge asked.

"The statue had broken slightly so I fixed it and put it back where I had found it." Blaise answered. "I then left the study and went home."

"What happened when you went home?" Bainbridge asked.

"Ginny confessed her affair to me and we talked." Blaise said.

"Did you tell her about Lucius?"

"No." Blaise responded. "It was obvious that she cared for him and I didn't want to upset her by telling her what I had done."

"Have you told her since?" Bainbridge questioned. He knew from the Auror's that Ginny hadn't seemed surprised by her boyfriend's arrest.

"Yes." Blaise nodded. "I had just finished telling her when the Auror's arrived and arrested me."

Bainbridge studied Blaise for several minutes. Everything that he had said fit perfectly with the evidence and with his confession there was no doubt they would easily get a conviction. Finally Bainbridge stood up and two Auror's entered the room.

"Blaise Zabini, I am arresting you for the murder of Lucius Malfoy. You will be officially charged and detained in the Ministry's holding cells until a trial date is set." Bainbridge said, formally arresting the former Slytherin. "While we conclude the investigation and build a case you will be regularly interviewed as part of the process. Do you understand the charges?"

"Yes." Blaise nodded, looking down at the table he was still seated at.

"Take him to the cells." Bainbridge told the Auror's as he left to complete the paperwork necessary to make the arrest official.

* * *

...

* * *

Narcissa was awakened by the feeling of a wet tongue lapping at her face. Opening her eyes she smiled at the sight of the white and grey husky puppy that was sitting in front of her. The puppy had been Hermione's Christmas present from Draco and since Narcissa's arrival at the flat it had taken a liking to the older witch and would constantly follow her around.

"Okay, Pepper, I'm up." Narcissa muttered to the puppy as she sat up from her afternoon nap.

Since Lucius's death Narcissa hadn't been sleeping particularly well so was grateful for any time she could manage to rest. Although the nap Narcissa had just awoken from hadn't been caused by her lack of sleep, it was a product of trying to give Draco and Hermione some space. She was hoping that by the time she left the spare room her son and his fiancé would have sorted out their differences.

Things between Draco and Hermione hadn't been right since the morning after Lucius's death and they had all spoken about their reasons for arguing with Lucius. Draco hadn't been happy that Hermione hadn't told him about Lucius's offer but because they were due at the Ministry the subject hadn't been cleared up at the time. When they had returned from the Ministry Narcissa had gone to bed early and while she hadn't heard any arguing from her son and his fiancé there had been a pretty frosty atmosphere between the couple the following morning. Draco had then locked himself in his study and when he had emerged a few hours ago Narcissa had left them alone, hoping they would talk and work out their problems.

Getting off the bed Narcissa picked the puppy up before heading out into the main body of the flat, hoping the atmosphere would be better. If Draco and Hermione hadn't sorted things out Narcissa wasn't against interfering and knocking some sense into the pair of them. Lucius hadn't managed to separate the pair when he was alive and Narcissa had no intention of letting him ruin their relationship from beyond the grave. Approaching the front room she was relieved to see that Draco and Hermione looked much happier together, they were both curled up on the sofa and were happily talking together.

"Did you get any sleep?" Draco asked his mother as she entered the front room and sat down in a chair.

"Yes, until this little one woke me up." Narcissa said, stroking the puppy that had curled up on the chair with her.

"Sorry Narcissa, I thought she was still asleep in her basket." Hermione said.

"It's fine." Narcissa said, looking lovingly at the dog curled up with her.

Draco was just about to suggest his mother took Pepper for her early evening walk when a knock on the door interrupted him. Draco got up and went to answer the door, returning a few minutes later with Bainbridge in tow. Draco offered the Auror a seat as Hermione and Narcissa wondered what was happening.

"Mrs Malfoy, Miss Granger." Bainbridge nodded at the two women. "As I have just told Mr Malfoy, I have some news regarding the case. This afternoon we made an arrest."

"You know who killed Lucius?" Narcissa asked.

"Who is it?" Draco asked at the same time as his mother.

"Yes, we know who killed your husband." Bainbridge told Narcissa. "The man in question had confessed to the crime and we're satisfied that the evidence is sufficient to provide a conviction."

"But who is it?" Draco asked more forcefully the second time.

Bainbridge hesitated momentarily before speaking. "Blaise Zabini."

Hermione and Narcissa both gasped while Draco looked stunned, absentmindedly shaking his head as he tried to process what he was being told.

"No." Draco said, finding his voice. "Blaise wouldn't do that."

"He's admitted it." Bainbridge said, feeling sympathetic to the man who had just discovered his friend had murdered his father.

"Why did he do it?" Hermione asked.

"He was arguing with Lucius over his affair with Ginny Weasley. He lost his temper and struck out, it was an accident and for what it's worth I don't think he meant to kill him."

"No, that's not right." Draco insisted. "Blaise doesn't lose his temper like that. He's impossible to argue with because he's always so calm and rational. Nothing my father said could have angered him enough to make him strike out."

"We're satisfied he's telling the truth." Bainbridge said. "As of tomorrow the investigation will be ending and we'll be concentrating on building a case for the trial. I'm sorry, I know he was your friend but the evidence is overwhelming, he killed your father."

"I want to see him." Draco said to Bainbridge. "If you expect me to believe Blaise is the killer, I need to speak to him for myself. I want to hear what happened in his own words."

"I can arrange that." Bainbridge nodded. "The meeting will however be monitored closely by the Auror department. It will also be another few days, possibly a week, before I can allow you to speak to him."

"Why so long?" Hermione asked, noticing how disappointed Draco looked at being told he had to wait. She knew that he would have been hoping to see Blaise as soon as possible.

"We need to formally end the investigation and make sure that everything is running smoothly before we can allow the suspect any contact with someone who isn't his lawyer." Bainbridge explained briefly about the reason for the delay.

"Fine I'll wait." Draco said, sounding less than happy with the prospect. "But I want to speak to him as soon as possible."

"Of course." Bainbridge nodded. "I'll inform you as soon as it's possible to arrange a meeting."

"Thank you." Draco said.

"You're welcome." Bainbridge said, before turning to face Narcissa. "Because the investigation's wrapping up we'll be finished with your home tomorrow, I'll inform you when we leave so you can move back in. We will also be releasing your husband's body in the next few days, we'll contact you with the details."

"Thank you." Narcissa said in a choked up voice. The fact that she would have to deal with a funeral was only just hitting her.

"I'll be leaving now." Bainbridge said as he stood up.

Draco showed the Auror to the door, once again making him promise to arrange the meeting with Blaise as soon as possible. After seeing Bainbridge out Draco returned to the front room where along with Narcissa and Hermione he struggled to come to terms with the identity of Lucius's killer.

* * *

...

* * *

**One Week Later.**

Draco and Hermione sat nervously in the small interrogation room in the Auror department, an Auror was also sitting in the room and two more were watching proceedings in the adjoining room. Bainbridge had finally been able to act on Draco's request and arrange a meeting with Blaise.

As the door opened and Blaise was marched into the room, accompanied by two Auror's, Draco stared at his friend trying to picture him as a killer. A week after being told the news Draco was still refusing to believe that someone he had known so long and trusted so implicitly could have killed his father.

"Draco, Hermione." Blaise greeted the couple as he was magically restrained to the chair.

"Did you do it, Blaise?" Draco asked, skipping directly to the reason for the visit. He wasn't visiting to chat, he wanted answers.

"I've confessed." Blaise said.

"That's not answering my question." Draco said. "I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you killed my father."

Blaise looked at Draco for several minutes before dropping his gaze to the table separating them. "I killed him." He whispered, barely audible despite the tiny room.

"I don't believe you." Draco stated. "And I don't believe my father's ranting's would anger you so much that you snapped. We both know it would have been very likely that I would have snapped and hit him, but you, that's not so likely."

"You didn't hear what he was saying about Ginny." Blaise muttered.

"Ah yes, Ginny." Draco sneered at the redhead's name. "And where is your cheating whore of a girlfriend? If what you're saying is true, you killed Lucius for her and how does she repay you? She runs off in shame, too embarrassed to even face her own family."

"What do you mean?" Blaise asked, finally looking up.

"After your arrest she left. She left a note for Molly and Arthur apologising for embarrassing the family and what she had done. Apparently she didn't want to face questions from the press so she's gone into hiding." Hermione explained to Blaise as it was clear that Draco wasn't going to elaborate on what he had said. "Molly received a letter from her the other day, she's staying away until everything had died down slightly."

"Was she really worth killing my father for?" Draco asked his friend. "Was she really worth throwing away our friendship?"

"I'm sorry, Draco." Blaise said, looking his friend in the eye for the first time.

"I just want the truth, Blaise." Draco pleaded with his friends. "Tell me what happened, please."

"Okay. I'll tell you." Blaise said, preparing to tell his friend the truth regarding the night of Lucius's death.


	9. The Truth

**The Truth.**

Draco looked at Blaise expectantly, preparing to hear the details of how his friend killed his father. For a long time Blaise was silent as he tried to decide how best to tell his story.

"Well are you going to speak?" Draco snapped, beginning to think Blaise had no intention of telling him what he wanted to know.

"Yes. I promised to tell you what happened, and I will." Blaise said quietly.

Taking a deep breath Blaise began reliving New Year's Eve and the events that led to him being arrested for Lucius's murder.

* * *

...

* * *

"Blaise I'm fine, go and get a drink." Ginny sighed as she pushed her boyfriend gently in the direction of the refreshments.

"Are you sure?" Blaise asked. Ginny hadn't wanted to come to the party and had been acting weird over since they arrived so Blaise was wary of leaving her alone.

"Yes, go." Ginny smiled and gave Blaise a peck on the cheek.

"I'll be two minutes." Blaise said, darting into the crowds and making his way to the other side of the large patio.

As he made his way to the drinks table Blaise resisted the urge to turn and check on his girlfriend. When he reached the table holding the drinks however he couldn't resist looking over his shoulder. Blaise frowned when he failed to spot Ginny where he had left her, turning round fully he began scanning the crowds in search of her red head. His reason for venturing over the other side of the party were forgotten as Blaise focused all his attention on finding his errant girlfriend.

Turning his attention towards the shadows cast by the large Manor, Blaise was relieved to spot the familiar figure of his girlfriend. He wasn't quite as relived when he recognised the figure she was talking to was Lucius Malfoy. As far as Blaise knew Ginny and Lucius only saw one another at parties like these and he could think of no reason why they would be talking. Blaise then remembered that Lucius wasn't a fan of Ginny's family and despite his change of attitude after the war he was worried that the older wizard might be being disrespectful to his girlfriend.

Suddenly concerned about his girlfriend Blaise began making his way back through the crowds, keeping one eye on Ginny and Lucius. Blaise had barely moved an inch when he stopped in shock, Lucius had just taken hold of Ginny and steered her into the Manor. Blaise would have still been worried about Ginny if he hadn't noticed the way Lucius had entwined his hand with Ginny's and gently led her from the party, they looked more like a couple than two people exchanging insults.

Blaise stood perfectly still for nearly five minutes trying to convince himself that he had misunderstood what had happened, just because Lucius hadn't forcefully taken Ginny indoors didn't mean that he wasn't threatening her in some way. Despite trying to tell himself that he had misunderstood Blaise couldn't convince himself, he was sure his first instincts were right. No matter how unlikely it seemed Blaise was convinced that something was going on between Ginny and Lucius.

Still mulling over what he had seen Blaise began making his way towards the Manor. Once he was outside the door he had seen Lucius and Ginny enter he stopped, trying to decide if he should enter the house. Part of Blaise wanted to return to the party, forgetting what he had seen, but another part of him desperately needed to see what was happening with his girlfriend and friends father. Knowing that he wouldn't get any peace of mind until he knew what was going on Blaise stepped into the quiet Manor, the noise of the party fading as he moved further into the big house.

Stopping for a minute to get his bearings Blaise tried to work out what rooms were nearby. Despite being pretty good friends with Draco his visits to the Manor were confined to his party experiences so apart from the bathrooms he had really had no idea where to find anything in the large house. Blaise knew that the corner of the Manor he was currently in was the main part used by Lucius and Narcissa so he figured it should be easy to find Ginny and Lucius.

Setting off to explore the nearby rooms Blaise listened for any noise that could point him in the right direction. Blaise was hoping to hear arguing that could signal that his first thoughts were wrong and there was a perfectly innocent explanation for the way Lucius and Ginny had disappeared holding hands. Unfortunately for Blaise the first sound he heard in the quiet Manor was a soft moan.

Following the sounds Blaise entered a deserted corridor, the moaning was much more audible in the corridor and he knew that he had found his girlfriend. Blaise stood frozen to the spot as he listened to the unmistakable noise of a couple having sex. Blaise had been with Ginny long enough to know what she sounded like during intercourse so he was confident the woman he could hear was her. Blaise was still clinging onto the possibility that Ginny could be with someone other than Lucius when her voice moaned out the blond wizard's name.

Blaise wanted to turn and leave, however he found he couldn't make his legs work. Listening to the sounds of Ginny and Lucius in the nearby room Blaise sank to the floor, his back leaning up against the wall as he put his head in his hands. He didn't want to hear Ginny with another man but he couldn't help himself from listening and trying to decide if she sounded like she was having a better time with Lucius than she did with him.

As he listened to the moaning and grunting in the nearby room Blaise knew his heart was breaking. He'd always known that Ginny didn't love him half as much as he loved her but he never imagined she would cheat on him, especially with someone like Lucius. Blaise couldn't help but grimace as it suddenly occurred to him why Ginny would get involved with Lucius. Right from the beginning of his relationship with Ginny Blaise was fully aware the redhead had a thing for Draco, he was just hoping that the reason she was with Lucius wasn't that she couldn't have Draco so she decided to bed his father instead.

Blaise remained sitting on the floor while the couple nearby finished their business. At the sound of Ginny screaming loudly Blaise shakily got to his feet. Glancing at the door he was guessing led to whatever room Ginny and Lucius were in he slowly started to make his way back to the party. Blaise knew he needed to confront Ginny but the thought of doing so when she was with Lucius was too much so he walked away, the sounds of their recent encounter echoing in his ears.

Blaise had just reached the end of the corridor when a loud shout stopped him in his tracks.

"I won't." He heard Ginny yell.

Blaise turned back around and headed back towards where he had been sitting moment earlier. He assumed Lucius must have spoken quiet enough for him not to hear as the next voice he heard belonged to Ginny again.

"You can't just use me like this, Lucius." Ginny yelled, clearly angry. "I'm not some toy you can keep returning to when you're bored."

"No, you're not." Lucius agreed. Now Blaise was standing next to the door he could clearly hear the blond wizard although he was speaking in normal tones. "You're a mistake."

"You didn't think I was a mistake five minutes ago while you were screwing me on your desk." Blaise winced at Ginny's words.

"I did, I was just too weak to stop myself." Lucius retorted and Blaise could picture his high and mighty sneer that usually accompanied that particular tone of voice. "I knew you were a mistake the first time I slept with you and every time since then. I regret every time we've been together."

"You don't mean that." Ginny said, obviously struggling not to cry. "You cared about me, you loved me."

Blaise almost stopped breathing when he heard Ginny mention the L word, it had never occurred to him that any sort of real emotions were involved in her relationship with Lucius.

"I never loved you." Blaise heard Lucius laugh coldly and he wondered if he was lying to get rid of Ginny or if he hadn't ever cared for the redhead.

"You did." Blaise barely heard Ginny's whisper as it was clear she was crying.

"I didn't, I used you. I got a kick out of bedding a girl younger than my son." Blaise winced as Lucius taunted Ginny. "I enjoyed the fact that every time I ran into your pathetic father I could have told him exactly what I was doing with his precious little girl."

"Well maybe next time you see him you can mention the fact you've gotten his daughter pregnant." Ginny retorted.

Blaise gasped in shock the same time as Lucius scoffed at Ginny's revelation.

"It's not mine." Blaise heard Lucius say, although he didn't sound overly convincing. "We've always been careful, the baby must be Blaise's."

"No it's not, the baby's yours." Blaise could hear the gloating tone to Ginny's voice. "The day you came to the flat to end things, we forgot to cast the contraception charm."

"Then you're going to get rid of it." Lucius snarled. "I've already got one son, and that's more than enough for me. I want nothing to do with you or the baby."

"You bastard." Ginny suddenly yelled.

Blaise smiled at the sound of Ginny finally standing up for herself. His smile faltered however when he heard a loud crashing noise followed by a feminine whimper. Terrified that Lucius had hurt Ginny Blaise bolted into the room, freezing as he took in the sight before him. Lucius was lying face down on the floor, blood seeping from a head injury, while Ginny was standing over him holding a broken statue.

"Oh god." Ginny moaned, dropping the statue. "I didn't mean to."

Almost in a trance Ginny reached for her fallen lover. Blaise spotted what she was going to do and reached forward, stopping her.

"Ginny, don't touch him." He said.

"He's hurt we have to help him." Ginny said, her eyes still on Lucius's prone body.

"I think he's beyond help Gin." Blaise said before carefully reaching out to feel for Lucius's pulse. "He's dead." He declared, quickly pulling his hand back.

Ginny immediately broke down in heavy sobs, falling to her knees beside Lucius. As Ginny sat crying Blaise tried to comprehend what had happened. The only solid thought that would stay in his mind was the fact Ginny would end up in prison. A rash idea suddenly entering his head Blaise pulled Ginny to her feet, turning her to look at him.

"Ginny you have to go home." Blaise said forcefully to his sobbing girlfriend. "I want you to leave this room head straight for a fireplace and floo home, I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I can't." Ginny sobbed. "What about Lucius?"

"I'll deal with that." Blaise said. "Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in Azkaban you need to go home now."

Ginny looked at Blaise with teary eyes, still reluctant to leave. Blaise gently pushed her towards the door where she paused to look back. Seeing Lucius's body was enough to push Ginny out of the room, with one final look at Blaise she turned and fled.

Once Ginny had left Blaise turned his attention back to the mess in the study. He knew what he was about to do was wrong but he loved Ginny and couldn't stand back and watch her be sent to Azkaban. Quickly shutting the door so no-one would accidently see him Blaise magically repaired the statue Ginny had hit Lucius with and returned it to where he thought it might stand. He also used a spell to remove any fingerprints in the room that belonged to him or Ginny. Looking around for a second time Blaise was satisfied that there was no more trace of Ginny ever being in the room so he left the study, making sure to magically shut the door behind him.

Blaise desperately wanted to follow Ginny straight home but knew it would look suspicious if they both disappeared without a word just before Lucius's body was discovered. Instead he headed back outside, wandering over in the direction he had last seen his friends. Luckily they hadn't moved so Blaise was easily able to find Draco and Hermione. After telling them a story about Ginny going home ill Blaise said his goodbyes to his friends and headed back into the Manor so he could go home.

Arriving back at the flat Blaise shared with Ginny he found the redhead curled up on the sofa, sobbing so hard her whole body shook. Moving to the sofa Blaise sat down next to Ginny and wrapped her in his arms, despite being so hurt by his earlier discoveries he couldn't bear to see his girlfriend so upset. Blaise silently held Ginny for a long time as she sobbed, he wasn't sure if she was crying for the awful thing she had done or for the fact she had lost her lover. Eventually Ginny composed herself enough to look up at Blaise.

"Thank you, for what you did." She whispered. "Why were you there so quickly?"

"I followed you and Lucius into the house." Blaise said. "I was leaving when I heard the start of the argument, I stuck around in case things turned nasty."

"So you heard what I told him?" Ginny asked.

"Yes." Blaise nodded. "Are you positive the baby is Lucius's?"

"I'm fairly certain." Ginny sighed.

"But you're not a hundred per cent sure. So there's a slim chance the baby could be mine?" Blaise asked sounding hopeful.

"Yes there's a tiny chance but I'm pretty sure the baby's Lucius's. I'm so sorry, Blaise." Ginny said softly. "I never meant to hurt you."

"It's my own fault, really." Blaise sighed. "I never should have pushed you into a relationship knowing you wanted someone else."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked warily, she was under the impression that no-one knew of her past infatuation with Draco.

"I mean the fact you actually wanted Draco." Blaise replied, amazed that Ginny honestly thought she had been subtle in her yearning for the blond. "I knew way back before I asked you out that it was Draco you were interested in, that he was the reason you were always hanging around where we were."

"Why did you ask me out then?" Ginny asked.

"I had a crush on you and I hoped that in time you would forget about Draco." Blaise shrugged. "That was obviously a bad idea."

"It wasn't." Ginny insisted. "I haven't had any feelings for Draco for years."

"No, you just moved onto his father." Blaise couldn't help the bitter tone in his voice.

"It wasn't like that." Ginny said quietly, aware of how bad the situation looked.

"You know Gin, right now I don't care what it was like." Blaise said. "At the minute we need to discuss what happened tonight and what's going to happen next."

"God, I can't believe I did that." Ginny said, burying her head in her hands.

"Well you did and now we need to get our stories straight." Blaise said, taking control and moving Ginny's face so she was looking at him. "This is important Ginny, if we mess this up you'll get arrested."

"Why can't we just go to the Auror's and claim it was self-defence?" Ginny asked, the prospect of getting caught later was truly terrifying.

"It wasn't though." Blaise pointed out, he hadn't actually witnessed the incident but had heard enough to know that Ginny had lashed out after Lucius had pushed her too far. "As soon as you went to court and they used veritiserum and viewed your memories the truth would be revealed."

"So what are we going to do?" Ginny asked. "They'll find out it was me."

"Not until it's too late, they won't." Blaise said, a plan starting to form in his mind.

"What does that mean?" Ginny asked.

"We'll get to that later, for now we need to make sure we both tell the same story about tonight." Blaise said. "I think it's better if we tell as much of the truth as possible."

"How do we do that without revealing what really happened?"

"First of all I'm sure over the course of the investigation your affair with Lucius will come to light and the Auror's will want to talk to you." Blaise said, noticing the redhead paled at the thought of talking to the Auror's. "Admit having an affair with Lucius, you can even admit what happened tonight but make sure to let them know that Lucius was alive when you last saw him. You then say that you told me you weren't feeling well and went home and I followed you home later. That's the story I told people before I left so if they ask our friends they can corroborate that. Also don't reveal anything about your pregnancy, it just gives you motive if they know you're pregnant and that Lucius wanted you to get rid of the baby."

"What if they don't believe what I tell them?" Ginny asked quietly.

"I'm guessing we'll at least have a couple of days before they want to speak to you, by then you'll have the story straight and unless you want to end up in Azkaban you'll be convincing."

Ginny shivered at the thought of ending up in Azkaban. That thought however made her worry for whoever they pinned Lucius's death on, surely if she was to get away with what she had done someone else had to take the fall. Quietly she voiced her concerns to Blaise.

"That's where I come in." Blaise said, this part of his plan was his least favourite but it had to be done if Ginny was to remain free. "I fixed the statue that you used to hit Lucius. The Auror's will take a residue test on it and discover I was the one who fixed it."

"No, Blaise." Ginny shook her head. "I won't let you take the blame for me."

"I'm not intending to." Blaise chuckled darkly. "I'll initially admit to killing Lucius but only to buy you enough time to flee."

"Flee?" Ginny squeaked. "As in run away? Leave the country?"

"Yes." Blaise nodded. "I'm sorry Gin, but it's the only option, unless you want to go down to the Ministry now and confess." Blaise paused, waiting until Ginny slowly shook her head. "I wish there was another way but I'm not willing to spend my life in prison for a crime I didn't commit. Plus I think Draco and Narcissa deserve the truth about what happened to Lucius."

"What about you?" Ginny asked. "Surely you'll be in trouble for lying."

"Yes, but me spending a few years in Azkaban is better than seeing you in there for life." Blaise said softly. "Besides think about what will happen to the baby if you're in prison. As soon as it's born it'll be taken away and you'll never see your child. I know there's only a slim possibility of the baby being mine but either way I don't want you to lose your baby."

"I don't deserve you." Ginny sniffed, her tears coming back as she realised how much Blaise was prepared to do for her and her unborn baby. Even though she was probably carrying another man's child he was still prepared to help her.

"Now we need to discuss your leaving." Blaise said, shrugging off Ginny's statement as he wasn't sure how to react. "Come with me."

Pulling Ginny up off the sofa he led her to their bedroom. Once in the bedroom he led her into their large walk in wardrobe and pushed his clothes to one side, revealing a safe built in to the wall.

"The combination's my birthday." He said, opening the safe up and reaching inside. "When the time comes to run you come to the safe and get this envelope."

"What's in there?" Ginny asked as Blaise showed her a blue envelope.

"An address belonging to a good friend of one of my stepfathers, his name's Tony. I've never met him personally but my stepfather gave this to me and told him to contact him if I was ever in any sort of trouble." Blaise explained to Ginny.

"I take it this friend of your stepfather's is dodgy." Ginny said.

"Probably." Blaise shrugged. "My stepfather's business wasn't always legal. But the important thing is that I trusted him so I trust his friend."

"How do we know he'll help?" Ginny asked, wary of putting her trust in a complete stranger. "Are you going to contact him?"

"No." Blaise shook his head and reached back into the safe, producing a black ring box. "This ring belonged to my stepfather, you take this to show to Tony, that will prove that you are who you say you are."

"Who do I say I am? Do I tell the truth?" Ginny asked, very uneasy with the plan so far.

"It's up to you if you tell the truth about why you're running but make sure to mention you're my girlfriend and I've sent you. My stepfather's friend promised him he would look out for me if I ever needed help so if he knows who you are he won't turn you away." Blaise said as he took the letter and the ring box from Ginny and replaced them in the safe. "Can you remember all that?" He asked, turning back to Ginny once the safe was shut.

"Yes. When it's time to run I take the address and ring and head for help." Ginny said, wondering if she would have the guts to actually run.

"Good. But whatever you do don't floo from home." Blaise warned. "Go somewhere that has a public floo network and use that."

"Why?" Ginny questioned as they left the wardrobe and sat down on the bed.

"We don't want anything going wrong." Blaise shrugged. "The minute I tell the truth the Auror's are going to be looking for you. If you floo from here they can trace it easily, however if you floo from somewhere public there's no way of working out where you went."

"Surely they'll use veritiserum on you to get the address." Ginny said.

"They can't use that until my trial." Blaise said. "By then you should be long gone and even when they trace the address I doubt Tony will still be there."

"What do you think your stepfather's friend will do to help me?" Ginny asked, wanting to know what she should expect.

"My guess is he'll get you a new identity and get you to somewhere you'll be safe." Blaise said.

"What will I do about money?" Ginny asked. "It'll look suspicious if I empty my account and then disappear. Hell, it's going to look suspicious anyway."

"Not necessarily. Before you leave write a note to your parents saying you need to get away before your affair with Lucius becomes public knowledge. Make it sound like you're just waiting for the fuss to die down before your return." Blaise said. "And as for money there's a bank book in the safe, take it and give it to Tony, he'll get the money for you."

"First of all I can't take your money." Ginny said. "And secondly how do you know my affair with Lucius is going to become public knowledge."

"Come one Gin, you know as well as I do that gossip from the Auror department about cases is rife. There's no way the fact you and Lucius have been seeing each other is going to remain undetected by the media." Blaise said to Ginny. "And as for the money that bank book is for a foreign account that my stepfather left for me, in case of emergencies. I want you to have it and to make good use of it."

"Is this the same stepfather?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, Carlos." Blaise smiled fondly. "To most of my mother's husbands I was a nuisance and they tried to have as little to do with me as possible but Carlos actually treated me like his son."

"What happened to him?" Ginny asked.

"He died, during my second year at Hogwarts." Blaise said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Blaise." Ginny said, reaching out for her boyfriend's hand. "For everything. Especially for forcing you to help me."

"You're not forcing me, Ginny." Blaise said. "I'm doing this because I love you and don't want you to end up in Azkaban."

"I'll never forget this." Ginny said. "And I promise one day, I'll make it up to you."

"That won't be possible Gin." Blaise said sadly. "Once you leave you'll not be able to return and I'll not know where you are. But I want you to promise me that you'll try to get over this and live a fulfilling life, if not for your own sake then for the baby."

Ginny nodded, the tears falling once more. Blaise hugged Ginny until she calmed down, he revelled in the feeling of holding her knowing that within days he would never set eyes on her again. Once Ginny had calmed down sufficiently Blaise made her go over the plan again. The couple spent most of the night making sure they both knew what was going to happen and when.

* * *

...

* * *

During Blaise's story the Auror's had sprung into action and by the time he had finished telling Draco about the night Lucius died Bainbridge was in the room. Once Blaise finished speaking Bainbridge handed him over to the Auror in the room and he led him away to another interrogation room where he would be re-interviewed.

Draco and Hermione were both shocked by what they had heard. They were both still trying to come to terms with the fact that not only was Ginny the killer, she was also potentially carrying Lucius's child. Draco was still trying to get his head round the fact that in a few months he could possibly have a half brother or sister that he would never know.

"I want to thank you for speaking with Blaise." Bainbridge said to the still bewildered couple. "I know he said that he always planned on telling the truth but I feel like he gave us more information because of who he was talking to."

"It's fine, we needed to know the truth." Draco said to the Auror. "Although I would like to ask if Ginny's pregnancy could be kept strictly confidential. Mother has been hurt enough by my father's actions, I really don't want her to know that he had gotten Ginny pregnant."

"Of course." Bainbridge nodded, appreciating Draco's concern for his mother. "Apart from the Auror's who were present today, no-one will ever know of the pregnancy."

"Thank you." Draco said, shaking the Auror's hand. "And thank you for everything you've done in the investigation."

"You're welcome." Bainbridge said. "It's not over though, we'll still keep searching for Ginny."

Draco nodded politely at the Auror and the three of them exited the interrogation room. while Bainbridge headed into another room to re-interview Blaise, Hermione and Draco left the Auror Department.

"You don't think they'll catch Ginny do you?" Hermione asked, pressing the button that summoned the lift.

"No. You heard Blaise's story, they'll never find her." Draco commented as the couple stepped into the golden lift that had appeared in front of them.

"This is going to be so hard for Molly and Arthur." Hermione sighed, thinking how devastated the Weasley's would be now the real truth was out. Although she knew it would be worse for them if they also knew Ginny was pregnant, not that they would ever find that piece of information out unless she was caught.

"It is, but they've got their entire family to support them. And us." Draco said, taking hold of Hermione's hand.

"Does that mean we'll still be friendly with the Weasley's?" Hermione asked cautiously. "I was worried you wouldn't want anything to do with them after everything Ginny's done."

"It was Ginny that had the affair with Lucius and then killed him. Her family aren't responsible for her actions and I have no intention of blaming them for what she's done." Draco said. "Besides they're practically your family, plus Molly and Arthur have been nothing but kind to me since we got together. I have no intention of letting Ginny ruin our relationships with her family."

Hermione smiled, pleased that Draco wasn't holding grudges against the rest of the family.

"Come on." Draco said, leading Hermione out of the lift and heading towards the fireplaces in the Atrium. "We'll tell mother the basic details of what we've discovered, then it's time we all put this mess behind us and moved on with our lives."

Hermione smiled once again as she followed Draco into the emerald green flames. She doubted it would be so easy to put Lucius's murder behind them but the important thing was that no matter how hard it was too move on Hermione, Draco and Narcissa would face it together, as a family.


	10. Epilogue

**Eighteen Months Later.**

Blaise sat in the small room as the Auror opposite him laid out the terms of his release. Blaise had spent the last fifteen months in Azkaban for his part in covering up Lucius's death and helping Ginny escape justice. He was only now being released with several conditions attached to him regaining his freedom.

For the three months leading up to his trial Blaise had been subjected to hours of interrogation as the Auror's searched for Ginny. Blaise had refused to give up the address of his stepfather's friend but during his trial when he was administered Veritiserum he had reluctantly parted with the address. However by the time the Auror's managed to get to the place Ginny had run off to there was no sign or her or Blaise's stepfather's friend. Blaise was relieved that Ginny had gotten away but concerned that the Auror's would eventually catch up with her, although so far there was still no sign of his former girlfriend.

Blaise had spent hours thinking about Ginny while he was locked up. Despite her being almost positive the baby was Lucius's, Blaise had held onto the slim chance it could have been his as he wondered if he had a son or a daughter out in the world somewhere. Blaise knew for the next few months the Auror's would be constantly monitoring his movements and behaviour but when he was completely free and clear he was seriously contemplating trying to find Ginny.

"Sign here, then you can leave." The Auror said, pushing a document towards Blaise and snapping him out of his thoughts.

Blaise signed the magically binding document before picking up his bag of belongings. The Auror gather the paperwork and led Blaise out of the small room. The Auror led the way through the twisting tunnels of Azkaban until they reached the relatively bright front office.

"Don't forget to sign in with us every week." The Auror told Blaise.

Blaise nodded and turned round, his eyes scanning for the man who had so kindly agreed to let him stay with him for the next few months. Blaise smiled as he spotted the form of Theo Nott standing looking out of the window into the gloomy sea that surrounded the prison.

"Hello Blaise." Theo greeted as he turned round. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes. Thank you so much for doing this." Blaise said. He knew that without Theo offering him a place to stay he wouldn't have been granted an early release.

"It's fine, that's what friends are for." Theo responded. He decided not to tell Blaise that if Draco hadn't been alright with what he was doing he never would have made the offer.

"Well I appreciate it anyway." Blaise said.

Theo nodded as he held out his arm for Blaise to grab onto. Holding tight onto his friends arm Blaise felt the familiar tug of apparition and a few seconds later he found himself standing in the familiar surroundings of Theo's flat.

"I've set the spare room up for you." Theo said. "You get settled and I'll make us some lunch."

Theo headed into the small kitchen in the flat while Blaise made his way to the spare room of his friends place. Placing his bag of belongings he was carrying on the bed Blaise sat down next to it and found his wand. Blaise was holding his wand for the first time since his arrest eighteen months ago and it felt both comforting and strange to have the long piece of wood in his grasp. Looking through the rest of his measly belongings in the bag Blaise put it to one side deciding that there was nothing he wanted to keep.

Looking around the room Blaise was pleased to see that Theo had brought a couple of boxes of his clothes from storage. After his arrest Blaise had arranged for his flat to be sold and his belongings to be put into storage at his mother's house. When Theo had offered him somewhere to stay Blaise had asked if his friend could get some of his clothes from his mother. At the time Blaise wasn't sure if Theo would be able to manage it as his mother was on honeymoon with yet another of her never ending supply of husbands.

Rummaging through the boxes Blaise decided to change clothes into some of his own, he was currently wearing second hands clothes he had been given upon his release from Azkaban. Happily he changed into some of his own clothes, albeit they were now slightly larger on his frame as he had lost weight while in prison. Once re-dressed Blaise headed for the kitchen, just as Theo placed two plates of sandwiches down on the table.

"Thanks." Blaise said, sitting down at the table as Theo placed two glasses of water on the table.

Theo sat down opposite Blaise and the two men ate in silence. Blaise had quite a bit he wanted to ask Theo, he was just hoping his friend would be willing to talk. Blaise waited until they finished lunch before mentioning he had questions he wanted to ask.

"I expected you to have questions." Theo said, tidying up the dishes before returning to his seat. "What do you want to know?"

"Where to start?" Blaise questioned, a dozen questions swimming in his head. "Why don't we start with Ginny's family. How did they react to what happened?"

"Not great." Theo sighed, thinking about how hard the events had struck the close-knit family. "First of all they found out that Ginny was having an affair with Lucius and then they discovered she had killed him. I'm not going to lie, Blaise, they took it hard and they're still trying to recover."

"What do they think about Ginny leaving like she did?" Blaise asked. He hoped her family would understand why he had convinced her to run and didn't resent her for leaving.

"I honestly don't know and I'm not sure they do either." Theo admitted. "I think they're relieved that Ginny isn't in prison but I don't think they like the fact she ran rather than face up to her actions."

"Maybe I can explain things to them, help them understand why she ran." Blaise said, wondering if telling her family about the baby would help them understand.

"No." Theo shook his head. "They don't want to see you, Blaise. They know Ginny was the one who got herself into this mess but they blame you for helping her leave."

"But she would have ended up in Azkaban." Blaise protested. "Surely it's better the way it is."

"Maybe." Theo shrugged. "But by running away she can never return, the Weasley's have lost a daughter and a sister."

Blaise nodded, never having really considered the fact the Weasley's had also lost Ginny because of what had happened. Maybe telling them about the baby was a bad idea as it would only be more painful knowing they had a grandchild they didn't know.

"Do you want to hear about our other friends?" Theo asked, wanting to get the subject away from Ginny's family.

"Yes." Blaise nodded. "Although I hope they're doing better than you. This place looks exactly the same as last time I was here, I take it you still haven't settled down."

"You know me, I prefer to be free and single." Theo said with a grin. "Everyone else however are rapidly settling down, can you believe I'm the only single one among our friends?"

"Really?" Blaise exclaimed in shock. "You mean even Greg has a girlfriend." Gregory Goyle was notoriously shy around girls and Blaise had never seen him speak to one that wasn't in their circle of friends.

"Yeah, she's called Joanna." Theo nodded. "He lives with her in Wales."

"Good for Greg." Blaise said. "So what about everyone else?"

"Pansy and Harry are getting married in two months, it's all Pansy's talked about for weeks now." Theo said, smiling at the thought of his excited friend. "Daphne and Seamus eloped three months ago and Daph is six months pregnant."

"God, I can't believe one of our friends is having a baby." Blaise exclaimed.

"Yeah." Theo nodded. "Anyway back to filling you in on what's been happening. Luna and Ron moved in together a few months ago and Luna already has Weasley under the thumb. Honestly you should see the bloke, he can't even go for a drink without first checking he's allowed."

Blaise laughed at the thought as Theo continued to fill him in on his friends lives. Noticeably however Theo failed to mention the person Blaise was most anxious to hear about.

"What about Draco?" Eventually the curiosity had become too much for Blaise and he had to ask about his friend. "And Narcissa, how are they doing?"

"Good." Theo said cautiously. "After what happened Narcissa sold the Manor and moved into one of the smaller Malfoy estates. Draco and Hermione also moved so they were living nearer to her."

"Are Draco and Hermione married?"

"Yeah, it's their first wedding anniversary this weekend." Theo said. "Hermione's also four months pregnant."

"So two sets of our friends are having babies." Blaise said, pleased his friend was moving on with his life. "Do you think Draco would want to see me?" He asked cautiously.

"Honestly, I don't know." Theo shrugged. "He was fine with me letting you stay here and he never speaks badly of you but I have no idea if he would want to see you."

"Could you ask him?" Blaise asked. "I never really got a chance to explain why I helped Ginny. I was also hoping to fix our friendship, if that's possible."

"I'll ask him." Theo said standing up. "But I won't pressure him, if he says no then that's the end of it."

"Thanks Theo." Blaise said, hoping Draco agreed to see him.

* * *

...

* * *

The sound of Pepper barking furiously indicated to Draco that someone was approaching the house. Knowing exactly who he was expecting Draco grabbed hold of the dog to stop her from jumping up when he opened the front door. Draco took a deep breath before opening the door, revealing a man he hadn't set eyes on since that day at the Ministry when he recounted what had happened the night of his father's death.

"Come in, Blaise." Draco said, gesturing for Blaise to enter the house.

Blaise entered the hallway, looking warily at the large dog Draco was holding onto. "Thanks for agreeing to see me."

Draco nodded and released his hold on Pepper, shooing her towards the library where Hermione was.

"Come on through." Draco said, turning and walking back to the front room.

Blaise followed Draco into the front room, taking a good look round the perfectly decorated house as he did so. While the house was no doubt expensively decorated it was still extremely warm and welcoming. Blaise settled down in the chair Draco indicated as he decided what to say, Draco's calm and cool demeanour was slightly off-putting and Blaise had no idea what his friend was thinking.

"I'm sorry." Blaise suddenly blurted. "I'm sorry for not telling you what happened immediately, but I can't be sorry for helping Ginny flee."

"I understand." Draco said, surprising Blaise.

"What?" Blaise questioned. "I thought you would hate me for what I did."

"I don't hate you, Blaise." Draco sighed, running his hand through his blond hair. "I don't like the fact you helped my father's killer escape justice but I understand why you did it."

"Really? You're not just trying to be nice to me?" Blaise asked, wary of Draco's strange approach to the conversation.

"Since when I do say things just to be nice to people?" Draco laughed. "No, I really mean it. I know that you helped Ginny because you loved her and she was potentially carrying your child, In your position I probably would have done the same."

"Thanks Draco, it means a lot to me that you understand." Blaise said.

"I may understand, my mother however isn't as understanding as me. She's not happy with what you did." Draco told Blaise.

"I'm sorry, if I thought it would do any good I would go and apologise personally but I'm guessing it's better for Narcissa if I stay away." Blaise said.

"Yes it is." Draco said. "In fact it's probably better if you stay away from all of us."

"I thought you'd forgiven me." Blaise exclaimed, hurt that Draco seemingly wanted nothing to do with him.

"Understanding isn't forgiveness." Draco said. "I would love to say that I forgive you for what you did and we could immediately go back to being friends, but I can't. Despite everything I can't forget what you did. Hopefully one day I'll be able to get past it, but for now I think it's better that we don't see each other."

"I understand." Blaise said, standing up. "I'll leave now, thank you for speaking with me."

"It was something that needed to be done." Draco said, standing and walking Blaise to the front door.

"I appreciate it." Blaise said as he stepped outside of Draco's house. "And congratulations for the wedding and baby."

"Thanks." Draco smiled sadly at his former friend. He was hoping one day he would be able to be friends with Blaise again but right now his betrayal was still too raw.

After saying a final goodbye to Blaise, Draco wandered off to find his wife. Before his meeting with Blaise he knew Hermione had been in the library and Draco was betting that she was still there. Sure enough when Draco entered the library he found Hermione curled up on the sofa, Pepper's head resting in her lap as she read.

"How did it go?" Hermione asked, looking up as she sensed Draco's presence in the room.

"Fine." Draco sighed, sitting down next to his wife. "We talked a bit, I think he understood why I can't forgive him yet."

"I'm sure he did." Hermione said, taking hold of Draco's hand. "Most people in your position wouldn't have spoken to him at all, they would have still been angry over what had happened."

"It's hard to be angry when you understand why he did it." Draco said. "I would have done exactly the same thing for you."

Hermione smiled, knowing that Draco was telling the truth. "Luckily that's not something we have to worry about."

"Yeah, we're lucky enough to be together." Draco said, wrapping his arm around Hermione as she snuggled closer to him.

"I'll have to remind you of how lucky you are next time you're moaning about me moving about during the night." Hermione huffed. Her pregnancy was making her pretty restless on a night and Draco would constantly whine about her disturbing his sleep.

"I know exactly how lucky I am to have you and the little princess you're carrying." Draco said, affectionately kissing the top of Hermione's head.

"Princess, what makes you think the baby's a girl?" Hermione asked, looking up at her husband.

"Intuition." Draco said, looking guilty.

Hermione sat up and glared at her husband. "Draco Malfoy, tell me you didn't bribe the healer to tell you the sex of the baby after we discussed it and decided to wait."

"I wouldn't say bribe exactly." Draco said slowly. "More like I asked really nicely."

"Honestly, you're worse than a little child who can't wait for Christmas so goes looking for their presents." Hermione said, settling back down next to her husband.

"Sorry, I know we decided to wait but I was just so excited." Draco pleaded with his wife to forgive him. "Besides think how much easier it will be to sort the nursery now we know we're having a girl."

"I suppose so." Hermione sighed, conceding that Draco had a point.

"Am I forgiven?" Draco asked his wife who was still looking slightly annoyed at him.

"Not yet. I think you'll have to spend the rest of the weekend making it up to me." Hermione grinned wickedly before pulling Draco towards her and connecting their lips.

Draco smirked into the kiss as he pulled his wife closer to his body. He had no problem with making it up to Hermione, in fact it was something he was looking forward to immensely.

* * *

...

* * *

In a small outdoor café in southern Brazil a tanned, dark haired woman sat reading the latest edition of the English papers. For several minutes she sat looking at the pictures of a newly released Blaise Zabini entering the Ministry of Magic to register with the Auror department. Sighing loudly the woman folded up her paper, tossed some coins onto the table to pay for her drink before standing up. Gathering her belongings she started to walk down towards the nearby beach.

Standing on the beach, looking out at the vast ocean Ginny Weasley thought about the people she had left behind. Not a day went by when Ginny didn't miss her friends and family but seeing Blaise had brought home just how lonely she was these days. She had a new identity, a job and a home in Brazil but she still wasn't secure enough in her new life to risk getting close to anyone. With her long red hair chopped to shoulder length and dyed very dark brown and her tanned limbs she looked nothing like her former self but Ginny was still paranoid that if she became friendly with someone they would see the resemblance to the wanted criminal she was.

After Blaise had been arrested Ginny had followed his directions perfectly. She grabbed what was needed from the safe and fled to a popular wizarding bar with a public floo network. Ginny waited until the floo network was being used on a regular basis before slipping into the queue and flooing away from the mess she was in. Once she had arrived at the friend of Blaise's stepfather the whole story came pouring out and she told Tony everything. Tony had been incredibly helpful and never once judged Ginny for what she had done. Within days of arriving at Tony's, Ginny had found herself with a new identity and a new haircut. Less than a week after leaving England Tony had taken her to Brazil where he had settled her into a lovely apartment overlooking the sea and had secured her a job. Since then Ginny hadn't seen Tony but she was immensely grateful for his life.

One thing Tony had done for her was to make sure she got the English papers daily. For weeks after she arrived in Brazil Ginny would pour over the numerous articles regarding what had happened with Lucius and her part in proceedings. She would often break down in tears as she saw pictures of her family being hounded by the press in the wake of her disappearance. Ginny had also followed Blaise's trial, her heart aching as she realised that she had always had the perfect man, she had just been too stupid to see it. Ginny felt immensely guilty when her former boyfriend was sentenced to twenty months in Azkaban.

One of the only bright spots for Ginny in all the mess was when she would read an article about her friends or family's personal life. She was thrilled whenever anything good happened to any of them. Ginny had read all about Ron's growing relationship with Luna and was thrilled to read about Harry's romantic proposal to Pansy. What pleased her the most however was when she read anything about Draco and Hermione, she had admired the stunning wedding picture they had released for hours and was overjoyed by the recent announcement that the couple were expecting a baby. Ginny was also pleased to read about Narcissa settling back into her charity work and moving on with her life.

The other bright spot in Ginny's life was her eleven month old son, Thomas. Picking her baby up from his pushchair, she looked into his grey eyes that shone brightly as she made a fuss of him. With his pale blond hair and bright grey eyes Thomas was unmistakably Lucius's son. Despite the bad ending between her and her older lover Ginny was still pleased that she had some reminder of their relationship.

Lost in memories of friends and family, Ginny stood on the beach for a long time, watching as the sun finally began to set over the horizon. She felt awful for all the pain and misery she had caused but standing on a remote beach in South America with her son she couldn't help but be thankful that Blaise had loved her enough to save her from a life in prison.

**The End.**

* * *

**A/N - Thanks to everyone who has read this story and thanks for all the support I've received throughout the story.**

**I am currently working on a sequel to this story set about ten years after the end of this story. I am hoping to have the first chapter up either the end of this week or the beginning of next. At the minute the story's called The Return but that might change before it gets uploaded. **

**I hope people have enjoyed this story and hopefully people will check out the sequel when it's ready. Thanks for reading.**


	11. SEQUEL NOTIFICATION

**Just a quick note to say that the sequel to Murder at Malfoy Manor has now been posted. It is called The Return and is rated T.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read Murder at Malfoy Manor and I hope you read and enjoy The Return.**


End file.
